MMMMMMMMl 


CHILD 
BEHAVIOR 


FLORENCE  MATEER 


wmmmtmmmmmmmgmmmammmiiMmmiMKiM'immBnim  wi^anwfw*  i-= 


CHILD 
BEHAVIOR 


A  CRITICAL  AND  EXPERIMENTAL  STUDY  OF 

YOUNG  CHILDREN  BY  THE  METHOD 

OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEXES 


BY 

FLORENCE  MATEER,  Ph.D. 

PSTCHOLOaiST,  MASSACHUSETTS  SCHOOL  FOB  THE  FEEBLE-MINDED, 
WAVEBLEY 


BOSTON 

RICHARD  G.  BADGER 

THE  GORHAM  PRESS 


COPTKIGHT,  1918,  BY  RiCHARD  G.  BaDGER 

All  Rights  Reserved 


Made  m  the  United  States  of  America 


The  Gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.S.A. 


L3 


TO 
WILLIAM   H.    BURNHAM 

(0  PROM  WHOSE  LECTDRES  ON  KRASNOGORSKI  THE  INSPIRATION 

I 
(T)  FOR  THIS  STUDT  WAS  DRAWN  AND  TO  WHOSE  KINDLY 

>1  HELP  ITS  COMPLETION  IS  DUE 


^ 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGH 

Introduction          .         .         •         •         •  .    •  ' 

I     Historical  Survey  of  Child  Study        .  .  18 

II      Methods  and  Results  of  Child  Study  .  .  32 

III      Behaviorism  and  Child  Psychology      .  .  53 

IV     The  Experiments  of  Krasnogorski        .  .  73 

V     Methodology      and      Technique     Modified 

from  Krasnogorski 9^ 

VI     Preliminary  Experiments    and  their  Indi- 
cations       .         .         •         •         •         •         .113 

VII     A  Quantitative  Study  of  the  Conditioned 

Reflex        .         .         .         •         •         •         .137 

VIII     Conclusions   .         .         .         .         •         •         -196 

Curves   Illustrating  the   Development   of 
Conditioned  Reflexes         ....  209 

Selected  Records  from  Other  Cases    .         .215 

Bibliography 219 


INTRODUCTION 

"Child  Study"  is  a  term  so  well-worn  and  so  widely 
used  that  its  application  and  meaning  in  any  one  in- 
stance consequently  needs  definition.  Studies  are  made 
of  the  growth  of  the  child,  his  games,  his  vocabulary, 
his  mental  activities,  and  they  are  all  legitimate 
branches  of  child  study,  somewhat  overlapping,  it  is 
true,  and  all  of  them  far  more  fragmentary  than 
complete. 

One  of  the  lines  along  which  a  great  deal  of  work  has 
been  done  is  that  of  the  mental  activities  of  the  child 
or  on  what  might  justly  be  called  child  psychology. 
This  division  is  recognized  from  the  standpoint  of  psy- 
chology itself  and  is  again  given  varied  connotations 
as  it  deals  with  different  features  of  the  subject.  All 
of  these  subdivisions  have,  however,  one  thing  in  com- 
mon. They  treat  of  the  growing  organism  as  con- 
trasted with  the  predominantly  functioning  organism 
of  the  adult.  Bearing  this  characteristic  in  mind,  child 
psychology  may  be  justly  said  to  include  the  study  of 
all  the  stages  of  the  intellectual  development  of  the 
organism  previous  to  the  stage  of  complete  maturity  of 
mind.  Usage  has  rather  clearly  discriminated  for  us, 
however,  three  main  divisions  in  this  long  period  of 
development.  These  are  usually  studied  separately,  al- 
though not  without  relating  the  findings  of  any  one 
period  to  those  of  the  others. 

The  most  widely  known  and  best  developed  of  these 
three  divisions  of  child  psychology  is  educational  psy- 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION 

chology  or  psychology  as  it  applies  to  the  child  of 
school  age  and  consequently  to  his  education.  Partly 
overlapping  this  but  separated  from  it  by  the  rift  of 
enormous  physiological  changes  is  the  psychology  of 
the  adolescent.  In  its  turn  the  study  of  the  mind  of 
the  adolescent  can  be  separated  from  the  study  of  the 
mind  of  the  adult  only  by  rather  artificial  discrimina- 
tions. 

On  the  other  extreme  of  the  age-limits  of  childhood 
we  have  the  child  of  the  pre-school  age.  Here  the  term 
"Child  Study"  is  generally  used  whether  or  no  the  prob- 
lem attacked  is  a  psychological  one.  In  view  of  the 
tremendous  development  of  intellect  that  occurs  in  this 
period  and  considering  the  large  number  of  studies  of 
such  development  that  have  already  been  made,  it  seems 
logical  to  use  the  term  "Psychology"  in  distinguishing 
these  studies  from  investigations  dealing  with  physical 
development,  social  reactions,  and  sense  functioning, 
despite  the  fact  that  there  are  necessary  correlations 
which  must  be  considered. 

But  psychology  must  itself  be  defined.  Shall  the 
term  be  used  to  designate  any  type  of  study  which  de- 
scribes the  child's  mental  processes  through  observation, 
analogy,  interpretation,  and  experimentation  or  shall 
the  usage  be  more  limited?  In  so  far  as  one  wishes  to 
be  scientifically  accurate  and  in  accord  with  the  ac- 
cepted meaning  of  to-day  the  term  should  be  used  only 
to  indicate  the  report  of  observations  made  under  con- 
trolled conditions  which  are  such  that  the  experiments 
may  be  repeated  and  the  results  verified  by  any  com- 
petent person  at  any  future  time. 

Even  so  the  term  "Psychology"  has  a  connotation 
which  is  very  apt  to  be  misleading  when  applied  to  the 
study  of  young  children.    Psychology  deals  with  mental 


INTRODUCTION  9 

processes,  with  images,  ideas  and  judgments.  These 
the  young  child  can  not  report  to  us,  nor  can  we  study 
tliem  directly  in  their  functioning  in  him,  but  only 
through  inference,  deduction  and  analogy.  Results 
obtained  thus  are  not  scientific  in  the  sense  of  the 
natural  sciences.  The  animal  psychologists  have  met 
and  conquered  this  same  situation  and  now  study  the 
behavior  of  their  subjects  without  dependence  upon  the 
assumption  of  such  and  such  subjective  processes. 
They  are  content  to  ascertain  the  exact  relations  ex- 
isting between  stimulus  and  reaction.  It  seems  fairly 
logical  that  those  wishing  to  enroll  the  study  of  the 
young  child  among  the  sciences  should  take  the  same 
step,  should  be  content  to  study  his  behavior.  Of  course 
in  its  wider  meaning  this  would  include  all  the  activi- 
ties of  the  child  but  in  a  stricter  sense  we  may  use  it 
to  mean  the  study  of  more  or  less  complex  reaction 
to  definitely  ascertained  stimuli. 

The  term  "Child  Behavior"  will  therefore  be  used  in 
this  discussion  to  indicate  the  observations  of  and  the 
experimentations  upon  the  mental  processes  of  children 
under  school  age,  as  expressed  in  their  behavior  or  re- 
action to  stimuli  and  ascertained  under  conditions  per- 
mitting repetition  and  verification.  But  the  value  of 
any  such  study  will  be  greatly  increased  if  several  ad- 
ditional factors  are  taken  into  consideration.  The 
problem  on  learning,  memory,  language,  or  anything 
else  will  be  far  more  valuable  if  it  is  studied  in  connec- 
tion with  full  recognition  and  evaluation  of  the  physi- 
cal organism,  the  environmental  conditions,  and  the 
past  experiences  of  the  child.  Also,  the  problem  under- 
taken, whatever  it  is,  should  be  correlated  with  and 
compared  with  similar  studies  on  older  children. 

Moreover,  if  we  are  attempting  to  formulate  a  basis 


10  INTRODUCTION 

for  a  science  of  Child  Behavior,  there  are  a  few  ques- 
tions we  should  ask  before  undertaking  any  specific 
investigation.  The  answers  to  these  questions  will  un- 
doubtedly indicate  the  most  probable  lines  of  profitable 
work.  The  questions  are  the  following.  What  work 
has  been  done  and  what  results  have  been  obtained  re- 
garding the  mental  development  of  the  young  child.'' 
To  what  extent  do  these  investigations  fail  and  what 
are  the  reasons  for  their  errors.''  What  improvements 
in  technique,  apparatus  and  method  can  be  made  in  the 
new  work  to  be  done-f* 

Then,  when  a  piece  of  research  has  been  completed, 
the  results  should  be  evaluated  not  only  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  absolute  findings  but  also  from  the  stand- 
point of  their  interpretation,  their  significance  for 
science  in  general  and,  in  this  age  of  applied  values, 
from  the  standpoint  of  their  use.  Also,  every  problem 
should  give,  as  a  result  of  its  being  intimately  known 
through  experience,  suggestions  for  modifications  of 
use  in  future  experiments  and  also  suggestions  for  new 
but  correlated  investigations. 

Let  us  here  attack  these  problems  in  the  order  men- 
tioned, trying  to  explain  more  fully  by  example  just 
what  is  meant.  First,  in  order  to  avoid  duplication  and 
to  avail  ourselves  of  the  best  that  the  experience  of 
past  experimenters  has  to  offer  we  must  survey  the 
results  so  far  obtained  by  those  studying  the  young 
child.  These  results  will  be  found  in  the  various  books 
on  "Child  Study." 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

CHAPTER  I 
HISTORICAL  SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY 

IT  would  be  interesting  to  trace  the  evolution  of  the 
place  the  child  has  played  in  human  thought  and 
plans  since  the  earliest  days  of  recorded  events  but 
that  would  lie  a  little  aside  from  the  main  purpose  of 
this  discussion. 

All  we  can  do  here  is  indicate  the  more  important 
factors  in  the  development  of  child  study  and  see  how 
they  give  rise  to  child  psychology  as  a  separate  line  of 
research  and  theory. 

The  place  of  the  child  was  ideal  in  the  days  of  Hellas ; 
statesmen,  philosophers  and  citizens  in  general  were 
devoted  to  his  interests  and  gave  of  their  best  to  his 
training.  To  them  this  appeared  as  but  natural  since 
he  was  the  future  State  and  only  through  giving  him 
the  most  perfect  preparation  would  the  future  State 
be  as  mighty  as  possible.  Schools  were  pleasant  places 
and  the  lessons  of  the  Greek  boy  would  seem  play  to 
the  present-day  child,  but  one  great  principle  appears 
to  have  been  disregarded.  The  boy  was  trained  as  a 
part  of  the  group,  the  goal  to  be  reached  subserved 
the  purpose  of  the  group  and  the  child  as  an  individual 
was  unrecognized. 

13 


14  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

With  Christianity  the  child  sank  into  obscurity.  The 
same  faith  which  elevated  one  child  to  Divinity  made 
all  other  children  sinful  in  their  very  nature  and  the 
Dark  Ages  could  from  the  standpoint  of  the  child  have 
had  no  other  cognomen.  The  stress  was  everywhere 
other-worldly,  although  this  gradually  changed  as  the 
Renaissance  dawned  and  glimpses  of  brighter  things 
may  be  seen. 

The  first  ray  of  light  which  we  can  point  out  ob- 
jectively as  indicating  the  advent  of  a  better  day  is 
the  appearance  of  the  Orbis  Pictis  of  Comenius  in 
1658.  This  first  picture  book  for  children  shows  us 
several  things.  The  child  is  coming  once  more  into  the 
focus  of  attention  and  he  is  regarded  as  a  creature 
having  some  interests  peculiar  to  himself  which  must 
be  met  in  a  way  adapted  to  him.  The  stern  necessity 
of  making  him  an  honorable  and  righteous  man  is  now 
seen  to  be  not  incompatible  with  making  him  more 
happy  as  a  child.  Perhaps  we  might  appear  to  be  de- 
ducing too  much  from  the  advent  of  this  book  were  it 
not  that  the  same  spirit  is  reflected  throughout  all  the 
rest  of  the  writings  of  Comenius,  while  the  little  book's 
immediate  use  and  popularity  throughout  Europe 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  people  were  ready  for  it. 
Nevertheless,  another  hundred  years  elapses  before  we 
find  a  generalized  and  definite  expression  of  the  rights 
of  the  child.     This  we  owe  to  Rousseau. 

With  the  appearance  of  the  Emile  in  1762  we  have 
the  beginnings  of  real  child-study,  both  theoretical, 
educational  and  observational.  We  can  do  no  better 
than  let  the  author  speak  for  himself.  In  the  preface 
to  the  Emile  he  writes:  "It  (the  Emile)  was  begun  to 
give  pleasure  to  a  good  mother  who  thinks  for  her- 
self .  .  .  We   know   nothing   of   childhood;   and  with, 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY      15 

our  mistaken  notions  the  further  we  advance  the  further 
we  go  astray.  The  wisest  writers  devote  themselves 
to  what  a  man  ought  to  know,  without  asking  what  a 
child  is  capable  of  learning.  They  are  always  looking 
for  the  man  in  the  child,  without  considering  what  he 
is  before  he  becomes  a  man.  It  is  to  this  study  that  I 
have  chiefly  devoted  myself.  ...  I  may  be  greatly 
mistaken  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done,  but  I  think  I 
have  clearly  perceived  the  material  which  is  to  be 
worked  upon."  (145,  p.  1.) 

Rousseau's  estimation  of  his  own  work  may  be  ac- 
cepted to-day.  Education  according  to  his  plan,  elimi- 
nating the  natural  social  relations  and  demanding  a 
laborious  trial  and  error  method  of  finding  knowledge, 
may  appear  very  far  from  ideal  but  the  demand  that 
the  child  be  allowed  free  activity  from  the  time  of  birth, 
with  careful  consideration  and  individual  study;  the 
insistence  upon  the  fact  that  the  child  has  certain 
rights  of  his  own;  the  keen  observations  of  child  na- 
ture; all  show  that  he  indeed  had  grasped  the  signifi- 
cant features  of  the  situation  and  recognized  in  the 
study  of  the  child  himself  the  solution  of  the  problems 
of  the  child  and  of  the  future  man.  We  might  trace 
his  influence  upon  human  thought  from  that  day  to  this 
but  we  must  here  narrow  our  study  to  tracing  only  the 
written  records  of  the  more  influential  students  of  the 
child  since  the  time  of  Rousseau. 

The  earliest  records  of  observations  of  the  develop- 
ment of  young  children  are  probably  those  made  by 
Pestalozzi  (134!)  during  the  year  1774  upon  his  little 
son  who  was  then  just  three  and  a  half  years  old.  They 
are  not  primarily  psychological  but  a  homely  diary 
of  the  father's  attempts  at  educating  the  child,  inter- 
spersed with  keen  observations  regarding  his  develop- 


16  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ment  mentally.  It  is  significant  that  although  Pesta- 
lozzi  thought  too  little  of  it  to  publish  it,  this  frag- 
ment of  observations  contains  much  that  would  be  con- 
sidered praiseworthy  to-day.  It  is  the  humane,  per- 
sonalized document  of  a  man  who  wrote  not  as  an  ab- 
stract scientist  but  as  one  who  knew  people  and  who 
loved  children.  But,  just  as  Pestalozzi  was  interested 
primarily  in  the  tendencies  and  abilities  of  children  in 
general  in  order  to  better  formulate,  upon  them  as  a 
basis,  his  principles  of  education,  so  here,  also,  the  ob- 
servations in  themselves  are  only  a  means  to  an  end. 
We  must  not  forget  that  to  Pestalozzi  the  child  was 
merely  the  immature  and  future  man.  To  quote  Heu- 
baum,  "Pestalozzi  had  not  grasped  the  truth  that  the 
age  of  childhood  had  significance  and  value  in  and  for 
itself,  that  it  carries  its  end  and  purpose  in  itself" 
(78,  p.  S66). 

And  so  Dietrich  Tiedemann  (174)  is  the  real  founder 
of  child  study.  His  observations  of  the  development 
of  his  son  appeared  in  1787.  They  are  purely  psy- 
chological and  reflect  the  empirical  attitude  of  the 
times.  Tiedemann  deplores  the  fact  that  there  are  not 
more  studies  of  these  early  manifestations  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  mental  abilities  because  through  such 
studies  that  part  of  the  theory  of  the  soul  which  studies 
the  development  of  the  various  mental  abilities  in  man 
would  be  considerably  advanced  and  hence  it  would 
further  pedagogy  which  is  necessarily  based  upon  it. 
The  study,  despite  its  excellence,  attracted  very  little 
attention,  sank  into  oblivion,  and  was  not  rescued  until 
Michelan  published  a  French  translation  of  it  in  the 
Journal  general  de  Vmstruction  publique  in  1863. 

Tiedemann's  "Die  vier  erste  Jahre  meiner  Kinder" 
(175)  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  more  influential 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD.  STUDY  17 

until  it,  also,  was  re-published  in  the  same  journal, 
the  same  year. 

Froebel's  "Die  Menschenerziehung"  (49)  appeared 
in  1826.  This,  again,  is  the  work  of  one  who  studies 
the  young  child  motivated  by  the  desire  to  obtain  a 
factual  basis  for  the  development  of  a  system  of  edu- 
cation. His  observations  are  a  mixture  of  empiricism 
and  philosophical  inferences.  One  new  step  he  takes 
is  of  special  significance  from  our  standpoint.  He 
points  out  that  the  child,  the  boy,  the  youth  are  not 
distinct  stages  but  that  they  are  continuous  and  that 
transitions  are  unbroken.  Hence  he  speaks  of  "man  in 
the  period  of  earliest  childhood." 

In  the  same  year  Schleiermacher  was  expressing  his 
views  on  childhood  and  education  in  his  lectures  at  the 
University  of  Berlin.  To  him  we  owe  the  first  com- 
plete formulation  of  the  modern  or  Rousselian  attitude 
towards  the  child  which,  in  spite  of  the  influence  that 
his  lectures  must  have  had,  develops  very  slowly  aside 
from  the  secondary  consideration  that  it  receives  in 
educational  theory.  Too  much  credit  can  hardly  be 
given  to  the  man  who  formulated  the  theory  that  "just 
as  each  period  of  life  is  for  itself  a  natural  division  of 
life  and  has  its  own  definite  character:  so,  also,  should 
each  of  these  periods  be  enjoyed  in  its  own  specific 
character  and  not  be  regarded  simply  as  a  means  to  a 
later  period"  (147,  p.  317). 

The  immediate  followers  of  Schleiermacher  do  not 
seem  to  profit  by,  nor  to  even  be  cognizant  of,  the  im- 
mense advance  which  his  attitude  indicates. 

In  1828  Mme.  Necker  de  Saussure  published  the  first 
volume  of  her  "Education  Progressive"  (121)  in  which 
she  treats  of  the  first  four  years  of  life.  The  second 
volume  appeared  in  1832  and  carries  the  child  beyond 


18  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

the  age  with  which  we  are  concerned  here.  Mme. 
Necker's  observations  of  the  development  of  mental 
abilities  in  young  children  are  extremely  fascinating, 
being  filled  with  the  spirit  of  one  who  wrote  with  an 
understanding  of  her  subject  matter,  and  they  de- 
serve wider  recognition  than  they  have  received  in  this 
country.  But,  although  the  observations  she  records 
are  fairly  accurate,  they  are  not  made  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  study  of  the  child  for  the  child's  sake.  Her 
self-confessed  motive  is  a  book  on  Christian  education, 
the  "constantly  progressing  education,"  not  completed 
in  this  life.  Her  study  of  the  child  is  primarily  to 
obtain  information  as  to  which  of  the  moral  faculties 
develops  first  and  what  the  order  is  of  those  that  fol- 
low. The  child  is  only  the  future  man  as  man  himself 
is  but  a  transient  here,  preparing  for  the  spiritual  life 
to  come. 

Throughout  this  period,  and  even  preceding  it  we 
find  biographies  and  autobiographies  which  are  literary 
rather  than  truthful,  fanciful  rather  than  practical. 
They  are  often  rated  among  the  books  on  child  study 
but  to  place  them  there  is  rather  dangerous  unless  one 
realizes  that  they  are  a  type  in  themselves.  A  good 
illustration  of  this  tendency  which  shows  by  contrast 
with  these  other  early  studies  how  long-distanced  the 
method  is  and  how  much  less  valuable  and  effective  from 
the  scientific  standpoint  is  Goltz'  "Buch  der  Kindheit 
(Selbstbiographie)"  (64).  This  has  been  widely  read 
by  German  parents  and  yet  it  is  not  scientific  or  even 
methodical  in  its  treatment.  This  book  appeared  in 
1847. 

In  1851  Lobisch's  work,  "Die  Entwicklungs- 
geschichte  der  Seele  des  Kindes"  (106),  appeared. 
This  book  seems  to  have  had  great  influence  if  we  may 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY      19 

judge  by  the  number  of  times  we  find  it  quoted. 
Lobisch  was  a  physician  specializing  on  children's  dis- 
eases and  probably  in  many  ways  one  of  the  earliest 
psychoclinicians. 

The  next  significant  publication  was  Sigismund's 
"Kind  und  Welt"  (159).  It  appeared  in  1856  and  is 
one  of  the  most  delightful  and  suggestive  books  ever 
written  on  this  subject.  Studying  his  own  child  from 
birth  through  the  periods  of  development  of  laughing, 
sitting,  walking,  and  talking,  Sigismund  also  compares 
its  development  with. that  of  other  children  among  his 
acquaintances.  He  gives  the  first  suggestion  of  a 
genetic  attitude  and  is  not  concerned  as  almost  all 
before  him  have  been,  with  educational  applications. 
He  touches  upon  the  manifold  topics  of  sensory  and 
motor  development  while  his  observations  regarding 
langtiage  and  affective  development  are  very  creditable. 

Hey f elder's  (79)  work,  which  is  valuable  chiefly  be- 
cause of  his  observations  upon  speech,  appeared  during 
the  next  two  years.  This  is  the  first  of  the  articles 
which  tend  more  or  less  completely  to  select  some  one 
form  of  mental  activity  as  their  subject  matter. 

To  Kussmaul  (102)  writing  in  1859  we  owe  the  first 
application  of  the  extensive  method  to  child  study. 
Limiting  himself  to  the  study  of  the  newly-born  infant 
he  makes  the  first  generalized  statements  of  mental  de- 
velopment in  young  children  that  are  based  upon  ob- 
servations upon  a  number  of  cases. 

From  this  time  on  the  development  of  child  study  is 
much  more  rapid  and  the  number  of  contributions  be- 
comes within  a  few  years  so  voluminous  that  a  complete 
bibliography  of  them,  without  any  annotations,  would 
far  exceed  this  volume  in  size. 

In  1869  the  Berlin  Padagogische  Verein  issued  a  bul- 


20  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

letin  urging  teachers  to  study  the  children  entering 
school  in  order  to  ascertain  their  range  of  ideas  and 
thus  glimpse  their  individuality  and  range  of  experi- 
ence. In  spite  of  lack  of  enthusiasm  and,  in  many  in- 
stances, the  inability  to  make  competent  reports,  the 
results  obtained  were  most  illuminating  and  valuable. 
They  showed  the  appalling  lack  of  knowledge  concern- 
ing things  children  were  supposed  to  have  grasped  just 
because  they  were  within  range  of  observation.  Indi- 
vidual differences  were  markedly  shown,  imitation  was 
found  to  influence  the  group  answers  and  yet  the  com- 
plexity and  fascination  of  the  findings  reported  by  Bar- 
tholomai  and  Schwabe  (9)  were  undoubtedly  effective 
in  stimulating  further  study  of  the  child  as  he  is  be- 
fore coming  under  school  influences. 

The  work  of  Bartholomai  and  Schwabe  was  followed 
by  that  of  Lange  (103)  in  1879  and  the  influence  ex- 
tended to  America  by  the  similar  study  made  by  G. 
Stanley  Hall  on  Boston  children  in  1880  (70).  This 
was  the  first  systematic  study  of  the  mind  of  the  child 
made  in  America.  Similar  work  has  since  been  done 
by  Netschajeff^  (122)  in  Petrograd. 

In  1873  Genzmer  (54!)  published  his  verification  of 
Kussmaul's  study  and  this  was  followed  in  1882  by 
Kroner's  (101)  work  on  the  same  subject.  This  phy- 
sio-psychological study  of  the  sensory  development  of 
the  young  child  has  become  one  of  the  most  frequently 
pursued  branches  of  child  study.  Several  illustrations 
will  suffice  to  show  the  height  of  this  development.  The 
recent  work  of  Canestrini  (26)  is  noteworthy.  He 
not  only  uses  an  objective  method  but  studies  a  large 
group,  seventy,  of  children  under  both  waking  and 
sleeping  conditions,  with  due  regard  for  any  change  in 
the  conditions  of  environment  or  in  the  child's  physical 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY      21 

or  emotional  state. 

Perhaps  an  even  more  careful  study  in  an  allied  field, 
developed  out  of  this,  is  that  of  Benedict  and  Talbot 
upon  the  "Physiology  of  the  New-Born  Infant"  (11). 
They  have  studied  the  metabolism  of  one  hundred  new- 
born babies  and  have  carried  out  their  work  in  such 
careful  detail  that  they  can  suggest  certain  procedures 
for  the  conservation  of  energy  and  supplemental  feed- 
ing during  the  first  week  of  life. 

Taine's  (169)  brief  note  upon  the  acquisition  of 
language  in  children  and  in  the  race  is  of  interest  for 
several  reasons.  It  voices  the  genetic  attitude  and  at 
the  same  time,  since  it  comes  to  us  from  France,  shows 
that  Germany  and  Austria  are  not  alone  in  progress 
in  their  new  interest  in  the  child.  Moreover,  this  ap- 
peared in  1876  and  a  part  of  it  was  translated  and 
published  in  the  English  journal  Mind  the  next 
year.  Darwin's  "Biographical  Sketch  of  an  Infant" 
(34)  appeared  in  the  next  number  of  the  same  maga- 
zine, its  publication  stimulated  as  he  himself  tells  us 
by  reading  Taine's  article.  Written  thirty-seven 
years  before  it  was  nevertheless,  despite  the  delay,  the 
first  published  product  of  English  child  study.  This 
shows  how  little  known  and  valued  the  earlier  conti- 
nental writers  must  have  been  among  their  British 
neighbors. 

But  bigger,  more  suggestive  studies  were  soon  to 
appear.  In  1878  Perez  published  his  book  entitled 
"Le  trois  premieres  annees  de  I'enfant"  (132).  The 
results  of  careful  study  are  here  combined  with  the 
logical,  brilliant  style  of  the  French  writer.  Perez, 
while  conforming  to  all  rules  for  "scientific"  writing 
of  his  time,  yet  gives  such  a  fascinating  study  that 
the  rapid  demand  for  new  editions  of  this  book  does  not 


22  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

seem  remarkable. 

He,  first,  seems  to  have  felt  the  need  of  extending 
such  observations  over  the  whole  of  the  pre-school 
period  and  so  continues  his  study  under  the  title 
"L'Enfant  de  trois  a  sept  ans"  (133).  This  is  not 
quite  as  interesting  as  his  first  volume  and  has  decid- 
edly more  of  a  pedagogical  tendency  but  is  worth  not- 
ing because  of  its  historical  primacy  in  this  field. 

Meanwhile  another  contributor  has  appeared,  one 
who  usually,  because  of  his  greater  value,  has  so  over- 
shadowed Perez  that  the  priority  of  the  latter  and  his 
consequent  influence  upon  the  time  are  overlooked.  This 
is  Preyer.  In  1880  he  published  an  article  on  Psycho- 
genesis  (140)  which  reveals  him  as  an  ardent  evolu- 
tionist and  consequently  we  can  anticipate  the  treat- 
ment of  his  "Die  Seele  des  Kindes"  (141).  He  studies 
his  own  child  from  birth  on  and  besides  observation  in- 
troduces a  new  element,  experiments.  These  controlled 
experiences  allow  of  variation  at  will.  Especially  note- 
worthy, although  begun  at  a  rather  late  age,  are  his 
experiments  upon  color  to  which  he  was  probably  stim- 
ulated by  Allen's  study  of  the  color  sense  (1). 

From  this  time  on  not  only  books  but  magazine 
articles  upon  child  study  and  especially  upon  the  child 
mind  are  so  nimierous  that  the  detailed  study  of  the 
development  in  any  one  country,  or  of  any  one  line  of 
investigation,  would  in  itself  necessitate  extensive  treat- 
ment. It  seems  more  fitting  here  to  indicate  the  high 
points  in  the  chief  branches  of  the  many  trends  we 
find  developing  out  of  this  period.  Several  of  these 
have  already  been  indicated. 

Let  us  first  survey  the  work  in  individual  countries 
briefly. 

In   Germany   Preyer   continued   to   be   the   leading 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY  23 

authority  for  some  time,  interspersing  his  articles  on 
the  psychology  of  the  child  with  work  on  the  physi- 
ology of  the  embryo  with  especial  consideration  of  the 
manifestations  of  life  before  birth  (142).  However 
we  find  him  still  writing  in  1897  on  the  subject  which 
was  so  well  developed  in  his  earlier  work,  that  is  on 
color  discrimination  (143). 

The  work  of  Ploss  must  not  pass  unmentioned.  He 
has  achieved  one  of  those  marvelous  compilations  which 
seem  to  need  the  German's  plodding  and  indefatigable 
application.  Ploss  gives  us  the  first  study  of  the  so- 
cial customs  built  up  around  and  influencing  the  child 
from  the  day  he  is  born  (136,  137). 

The  work  of  Vierordt  (180,  181)  must  be  men- 
tioned, too.  Although  it  is  purely  anatomical  and 
physiological  in  both  its  subject  matter  and  aims,  it 
is  the  symbol  of  the  great  development  of  anthropo- 
logical studies  wliich  give  us  the  broader  aspects  of 
child  study  though  they  do  not  contribute  directly  to 
the  psychology  of  the  child. 

Since  then  Ufer,  Ament,  Meumann  and  Stern  have 
done  the  most  significant  work. 

Ufer  has  not  only  written  much  himself  but  has 
also  translated  into  German  a  considerable  amount  on 
this  subject.  Ament  has  been  interested  especially  in 
child  speech  and  in  the  history  and  development  of 
child  psychology  in  general.  It  would  hardly  be  com- 
mensurate with  the  object  of  this  sketch  to  attempt 
here,  in  a  form  which  would  necessarily  be  brief,  any 
statement  of  the  development  which  he  has  handled  so 
well  in  his  "Fortschritte  der  Kinderseelenkunde  1895- 
1903"  (4). 

Meumann,  too,  has  contributed  considerable  to  the 
upper  end  of  this  fore-school  period  but  his  aims  are 


U  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

more  pedagogical. 

Stern  is  undoubtedly  the  most  Important,  most  sig- 
nificant, as  well  as  most  voluminous  German  writer  in 
this  field — Gutberlet  (69)  calls  him  the  greatest  of  all 
child  psychologists  of  the  present  day. 

The  more  recent  writings,  especially  magazine  con- 
tributions, indicate  new  workers  who  will  probably 
supersede  those  just  mentioned  but  whose  work  is  not 
yet  very  well  tested  b}^  time.  Among  these  we  may 
mention  Dix  (38),  Schmidt  (148),  Buchner  (21),  Scu- 
pin  (150),  DyrofF  (41)  and  especially  Groos  (66), 
while  the  careful,  critical  discussion  of  the  psychology 
of  development  in  Ruttmann's  (146)  survey  of  modern 
psychology  is  the  most  scientific  and  comprehensive 
summary  so  far  available,  altho  it  deals  somewhat  too 
exclusively  with  German  contributions. 

In  Belgium  the  work  has  been  confined  to  children 
of  school  age  and  the  problems  studied  have  been  peda- 
gogical in  their  formulation. 

In  France  Perez  continued  writing  up  until  his 
death  but  his  discussions  gradually  became  more  philo- 
sophical and  less  based  upon  observation.  Compayre's 
"L'Evolution  intellectuelle  et  morale  de  I'enfant"  (32) 
has  supplanted  Perez's  work  and  is  the  most  recent 
French  publication  which  is  general  and  comprehensive 
in  its  treatment. 

Mere  reference  to  the  many  valuable  volumes  of 
L'Annee  Psychologique  will  show  the  varied  interests 
developed  in  this  subject  by  Perez's  countrymen.  Binet 
and  his  collaborators,  especially  Henri  and  Simon,  have 
accomplished  much  although  nowhere  do  we  find  the 
same  type  of  work  as  among  the  Germans.  The  French 
write  brilliantly  and  convincingly  but  their  technique 
is  apt  to  be  at  fault.    They  seem  to  hit  intuitively  upon 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY  25 

right  premises  and  conclusions,  although  their  data 
may  be  unconvincing  or  scanty.  The  German  work  is 
more  stolid,  more  convincing  in  its  facts  but  less  in- 
spiring in  application. 

Among  the  lesser  French  writers  of  to-day  we  should 
perhaps  mention  Vaschide,  Bouquet  (18),  Boutan  (19) 
and  Cramaussel  (33). 

The  work  on  Child  Study  in  Italy  began  with  Luigi 
Ferri.  Interested  in  the  work  of  Darwin  and  Taine, 
he  began  studying  a  young  child  in  regard  to  the  de- 
velopment of  sense  perception,  attention,  speech,  imi- 
tation, etc.  His  first  results  were  published  in  1879 
(45)  and  were  followed  by  others  on  the  same  child 
(46,  47).  His  work  raises  in  its  discussion  some  inter- 
esting philosophical  questions. 

Ottolenghi  (125)  studied  skin  sensitivity  but  largely 
on  older  children.  Garbini  seems  to  have  done  the  most 
original  and  systematic  of  the  Italian  work.  He 
studied  the  voice  of  the  child  (50),  changes  in  its  pitch, 
vibration  frequency  and  duration  of  cries  and  he  re- 
cords the  ages  at  which  changes  occur.  He  also  did 
intensive  work  on  development  of  the  color  sense  (51), 
working  on  557  children  ranging  from  the  new-born 
up  to  those  60  months  of  age.  His  work  (52)  on  de- 
velopment of  the  olfactory  sense  on  10  new-bom  in- 
fants and  415  children  between  the  ages  of  three  and 
six  is  equally  valuable.  Garbini  is  undoubtedly  an  ex- 
ception among  those  who  have  studied  children.  His 
work  is  thoroughly  scientific  and  objective  in  method. 

One  other  Italian  writer  needs  special  recognition 
and  that  is  Paola  Lombroso.  Besides  some  original 
work  on  the  instinct  of  conservation  in  children  (109) 
she  has  written  a  historical  and  critical  account  of  the 
work  done  by  her  fellow  countrymen  along  the  lines  of 


26  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

child  study  (108).  The  Italians  have  not  so  far  pro- 
duced any  one  study  covering  the  whole  period  of  child- 
hood, Lombroso's  book  (107),  which  attempts  this,  be- 
ing rather  incomplete  along  some  lines  and  quite  lim- 
ited in  scope. 

Russian  literature  is  in  general  so  little  accessible 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  tell  what  has  been  ac- 
complished in  that  country.  Several  names  must  be 
mentioned,  though.  Netschajeff  has  written  quite  a 
little  in  German  magazines  and  has  since  1904  had  an 
institute  for  Paidology  in  Petrograd.  Sikorskij  is 
perhaps  better  known.  The  most  recent  of  his  writings 
is  his  "Die  Seele  des  Kindes"  (160)  published  in  1902. 
This  has  passed  through  three  Russian  editions  but 
owing  to  lack  of  translation  of  the  third  edition  it  is 
impossible  to  state  whether  there  are  or  are  not  new 
contributions  in  it.  The  many  changes  in  and  addi- 
tions to  the  second  edition  lead  one  to  feel  that  the 
author  is  still  working  towards,  rather  than  resting  on, 
an  ideal  study. 

He  does  not,  however,  seem  to  be  familiar  with,  at 
least  he  does  not  mention,  the  significance  of  the  theo- 
ries developed  by  his  own  feUow-countrymen,  Pavlov 
and  his  followers. 

In  England  there  was  rapid  development  in  child 
study  immediately  following  the  publication  of  Dar- 
win's sketch.  Pollock's  (139)  work  on  language  de- 
velopment of  an  infant  appeared  in  the  following  year 
and  was  followed  by  the  work  of  Champney  (30)  and 
Sully  (166)  on  the  same  subject.  With  Sully  this  was 
the  beginning  of  a  long  period  of  steady  contribution 
to  the  subject  and  none  of  us  needs  to  be  reminded  of 
his  "Studies  of  Childhood"  (167). 

Warner  has  done  quite  a  lot  to  advance  the  methods 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY      27 

of  child  study  beginning  with  his  publication  of  "The 
Children:  How  to  Study  Them"  (183)  in  1887.  How- 
ever, he  aims  chiefly  at  furthering  educational  methods, 
and  studies  especially  the  physical  and  physio-psycho- 
logical aspects  of  the  subject.  One  significant  attempt 
of  his  should  be  mentioned.  It  is  a  brief  report  (182) 
of  an  apparatus  which  he  designed  and  used  to  measure 
the  spontaneous  movements  of  the  hands  of  children 
and  adults.  He  found  that  in  infants  probably  spon- 
taneous movements  "can  be  arrested  by  light  and  also 
by  sound"  (p.  162).  He  outlines  a  method  for  study- 
ing the  character  of  the  modification  and  reports  that 
these  modifications  tend  to  occur  regularly  to  the  same 
stimuli,  illustrating  the  statement  with  curves  from 
his  experiments. 

Drummond  (39,  40)  is  a  more  recent  writer  of  a 
rather  elementary  type  of  book  intended  evidently  for 
the  inexperienced  student.  This  type  of  contribution 
is  rather  well  illustrated  in  the  pages  of  Child  Study, 
the  official  journal  of  the  British  Child  Study  Associa- 
tion, while  the  magazine,  The  Child,  is  devoted  to  the 
social,  hygienic  and  educational  welfare  of  the  child. 
In  England  this  practical  tendency  seems  to  have  rather 
superseded  the  less  material  interest  in  child  study  it- 
self. 

There  is,  however,  a  small  but  valuable  body  of 
studies  lying  partly  within  the  limits  of  child  psy- 
chology. For  instance  McDougall's  "Investigation  of 
the  Color  Sense  of  Two  Infants"  (115)  not  only  gives 
a  higher  development  of  method  but  is  also  a  valuable 
contribution  showing  that  color  development  not  only 
comes  earlier  than  Baldwin  found  but  also  that  it  is 
readily  studied.  Although  different  in  technique  the 
work  of  Myers  (120)  and  Valentine  (178)  is  similar. 


28  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

On  the  whole  English  contributions  to  child  study,  in 
so  far  as  it  deals  with  the  child  of  pre-school  age,  have 
been  imitative  rather  than  original  and  very  scanty  in 
number. 

The  situation  in  America  is  different  and  appears 
more  so  by  contrast  with  England.  As  has  been  indi- 
cated the  movement  really  began  with  Hall's  work  on 
the  ideas  of  children  upon  school  entrance  which  he 
made  in  Boston  in  1880.  Several  minor  magazine  ar- 
ticles had  appeared  before  this.  Among  these  were 
Holden's  (82)  study  of  the  vocabulary  of  children, 
appearing  in  1877,  and  Humphreys  (84)  on  the  same 
topic,  published  in  1880. 

But  these  articles  excited  little  attention.  Larger 
forces  were  needed  to  arouse  the  interest  in  child  study. 
We  see  how  Hall  had  started  such  a  movement  but 
before  it  attained  its  full  force,  which  was  not  until 
students  coming  under  his  influence  as  President  of 
Clark  University  began  working  in  collaboration  with 
him  as  well  as  independently,  another  influence  was  at 
work.  The  first  work  of  Perez  and  then  that  of 
Preyer  were  translated  and  made  more  accessible  to  the 
public  in  general.  Before  the  interest  in  these  studies 
had  time  to  wane  Shinn's  "Notes  on  the  Development 
of  a  Child"  (156)  appeared  and  led  to  renewed  in- 
terest in  individual  studies.  Shinn's  work  although  the 
first  of  this  type  of  study  in  the  United  States  is  un- 
doubtedly still  its  masterpiece,  especially  when  her  later 
studies  are  considered  in  connection  with  it  (157,  158). 

In  the  meantime  many  minor  articles  had  appeared, 
but  who  to-day  would  recognize  the  names  of  Chaille 
(27),  Calkins  (25),  Dewey  (37),  Allen  (2)  and  Tal- 
bot (170)  as  authorities  in  this  field? 

From    about    1890   progress    seems   very   different. 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY  29 

Baldwin's  first  article  on  right-  and  left-handedness  (5) 
appeared  that  year  and  was  but  the  forerunner  of  his 
"Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  the  Race"  (6), 
which  is  still  a  masterpiece  of  the  followers  of  the 
genetic  method.  Earl  Barnes  began  writing  rather 
extensively  about  the  same  time  and  although  educa- 
tional in  his  aims  he  has  done  much  to  encourage  child 
study. 

The  Pedagogical  Seminary  was  established  by 
Hall  in  1891  and  soon  became  almost  synonymous  as 
a  title  with  child  study  contributions.  Its  pages  are 
a  history  of  the  development  of  the  study  of  the  child 
by  American  writers.  Among  those  interested  in  this 
subject  we  find  Hall  and  his  colleagues;  Burnham,  sug- 
gesting especially  a  scheme  for  classification  of  child 
study  topics  and  since  devoting  himself  more  to  the 
hygiene  of  the  child,  and.  Chamberlain,  who  led  afield 
into  the  life  of  primitive  peoples  (28)  but  who  has  also 
given  us  a  most  careful  study  "in  the  light  of  the  litera- 
ture of  evolution"  (29).  Later  we  have  the  work  of 
Tanner  (172)  which  pays  more  attention  to  the  peda- 
gogical significance  of  the  various  phases  of  child  de- 
velopment. 

Among  those  studying  under  the  group  just  men- 
tioned and  coming  under  their  influence  many  have 
made  significant  contributions  to  the  study  of  the  child 
in  its  physical,  moral  and  educational  aspects,  while 
among  those  devoting  themselves  to  child  psychology  we 
must  mention  Tracy,  whose  "Psychology  of  Childhood" 
(176)  appeared  in  1893,  Kirkpatrick,  whose  work  be- 
gan in  1891  (94)  and  who  has  since  given  us  two  of 
our  best  introductory  texts  (95,  96),  Gesell  (55),  in- 
terested in  the  young  child  from  the  educational  as- 
pect, and  Patridge  (127),  emphasizing  the  study  of  the 


80  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

individual. 

Besides  this  group,  originating  from  one  center,  we 
must  mention  a  number  of  other  authorities,  Oppen- 
heim  (124),  Jacoby  (87),  King  (93),  Major  (113) 
and  Thorndike  (173).  Another  group  follows  the  im- 
pulse given  by  Shinn's  study.  Here  belong  the  "Study 
of  a  Child"  by  Hogan  (81),  Hall's  "The  First  500 
Days  of  a  Child's  Life"  (73)  and  Moore's  "The  Men- 
tal Development  of  a  Child"  (119). 

The  practical  side  of  the  work  for  the  child  is  seen 
in  Mangold's  "Problems  of  Child  Welfare"  (114), 
while  an  interesting  sketch  of  the  child  and  the  history 
of  his  social,  political  and  humanitarian  relations,  by 
Payne  (130),  has  just  appeared. 

The  present  tendency  in  the  United  States  more  than 
in  any  other  country  seems  to  be  towards  specializa- 
tion of  topic  and  method,  with  a  great  many  theoreti- 
cal as  well  as  research  contributions.  The  activity  in 
this  country  resembles  more  nearly  that  of  Germany 
than  of  any  other  country  if  we  exclude  the  intense 
interest  in  "tests  of  intelligence"  which  deal  usually 
with  older  children  and  wherein  the  French  school  leads. 

We  must  not,  however,  think  of  child  study  as  con- 
fined to  the  countries  mentioned.  Work  is  evidently 
going  on  in  almost  all  civilized  lands,  but  the  differ- 
ence in  languages  has  made  the  results  practically  in- 
accessible. A  report  by  Gilbertson  (56)  shows  that 
the  Danish  Anthropological  Survey  has  added  quite  a 
little  to  the  data  regarding  the  weight  of  new-born 
children  and  also  concerning  the  so-called  inferiority 
of  first-born  children.  Grudzinska's  (67)  study  of 
dolls,  altho  dealing  largely  with  children  of  school  age, 
gives  us  an  indication  of  the  work  being  done  in  Po- 
land, while  her  report  (68)  of  the  Child  Study  Asso- 


SURVEY  OF  CHILD  STUDY  31 

ciation  of  Warsaw  indicates  probably  valuable  work 
on  language,  ideas  of  space  and  first  esthetic  impres- 
sions. 

Through  Lippert  (104)  we  find  much  is  being  done 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  and  he  reports  that  many  of 
the  colleges  there  give  courses  in  child  study.  In  Por- 
tugal we  find  Machado  (112)  has  made  a  study  of  his 
child  which  resembles  the  biograpliical  studies  witl> 
which  Germany  and  France  both  began.  No  doubt 
other  studies  have  been  made  and  the  fact  that  the  in- 
terest in  child  study  is  almost  universal  is  seen  by  the 
fact  that  a  First  American  Child's  Congress  was  held 
in  Buenos  Aires  in  July,  1916. 


CHAPTER  II 
METHODS  AND  RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY 

WE  may  now  justly  ask  what  are  the  results  which 
this  child  study  movement  has  accomplished  so 
far  as  the  psychology  of  the  pre-school  child  is  con- 
cerned. The  results  may  be  grouped  under  several 
heads.  First  there  is  the  development  of  methods 
themselves  and  secondly  there  are  the  facts  that  have 
been  determined. 

The  subject  matter  of  child  study  may  include  any 
and  every  thing  that  can  be  observed  regarding  the 
child's  development,  physically,  mentally,  functionally. 
The  various  fields  of  study  may  in  general  be  classified 
as: 

1.  Anatomical  studies  or  those  dealing  entirely  with 
measurement  of  and  description  of  the  structure  of  the 
child's  body,  such  as  measurements  of  height,  cephalic 
index,  etc. 

2.  Physiological  studies  or  those  of  the  functioning 
of  the  child's  organism.  The  many  studies  of  the  re- 
flexes, sleep,  blood  supply,  digestion  and  motor  devel- 
opment belong  here. 

3.  Physio-psychological  or  the  studies  of  sensory  de- 
velopment and  discrimination,  the  development  of  mo- 
tor control  and  the  early  language  functioning  belong 
here. 

4.  Purely  psychological  or  studies  of  the  develop- 
ment of  memory,  imagination,  comprehension  of  lan- 

32 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY      33 

guage  and  in  general  the  expression  of  higher,  more 
complex  forms  of  thought. 

5.  Observations  of  behavior  or  the  activity  of  the 
child  as  expressed  in  games,  plays  and  spontaneous 
occupations,  often  with  especial  regard  for  emotional 
expression. 

Of  course  two  or  more  of  these  lines  of  observation 
may  be  pursued  in  a  single  study  while  some  studies 
involve  all  five.  All  are  interrelated  and  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  make  a  study,  no  matter  how  purely  physiologi- 
cal or  psychological,  that  does  not  influence  and  at  the 
same  time  derive  help  from  the  other  phases. 

Any  of  these  topics  is  a  part  of  child  psychology 
when  it  is  dealt  with  from  the  standpoint  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  factor  as  an  indication  of  mental  activity 
or  as  a  correlative  of  mental  activity.  Anatomical 
studies  may  indicate  growth  and  physiological  age, 
also  functional  ability.  In  this  aspect  they,  although 
they  seem  the  most  remote  of  any  of  these  divisions 
from  psychology,  assume  great  probable  significance 
if  not  as  causative  at  least  as  correlative  conditions 
of  mental  growth. 

The  method  historically  first,  that  is  the  diary,  indi- 
vidual or  biographical  method,  is  the  one  usually 
thought  of  first.  The  conditions  for  its  practice  are 
the  most  universal — a  baby,  any  baby,  and  an  observer. 
LTsually  the  observer  is  one  of  the  parents  or  a  rela- 
tive. The  method  is  slow  and  laborious,  the  results 
difficult  of  comparison  and  interpretation  when  ob- 
tained. It  is  impossible  to  record  every  conditioning 
factor  in  the  environment  that  has  led  up  to  any  re- 
corded observation,  hence  the  standardization  of  con- 
ditions for  verifying  the  finding  upon  other  children 
is  impossible.     The  method  is  valuable  as  a  basis  for 


34  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

genetic  psychology  and  gives  suggestions  regarding 
the  relative  appearance  of  various  mental  phenomena. 
The  work  of  Pestalozzi,  Sigismund,  Darwin,  Perez, 
Preyer,  Shinn,  all  illustrate  this  method  but  undoubt- 
edly the  Sterns  represent  it  at  its  height.  A  brief  sum- 
mary of  their  views  is  consequently  not  only  fitting  but 
necessary. 

Stern  (162)  designates  the  period  of  early  childhood 
as  that  of  play  while  the  period  of  7-14  is  that  of  dif- 
ferentiation of  work  and  play.  Another  difference 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  young  child  is  under  home 
and  kindergarten  influences  which  vary  greatly  from 
the  school  surroundings  of  the  older  child.  The  na- 
ture of  the  young  child's  existence  makes  for  observa- 
tion of  the  individual  over  an  extended  period  rather 
than  for  the  observation  of  a  grea,t  number  of  children. 
The  pedagogue  needs  these  studies  of  early  childhood, 
needs  to  know  the  development  of  the  material  he  works 
with.  The  work  on  the  Stern  children  covers  the  first 
six  years  because  Stern  feels  the  need  of  filling  in  the 
big  gap  in  our  knowledge  between  what  we  know  of  the 
first  three  years,  studied  by  so  many,  and  school  age 
which  again  is  voluminously  studied.  He  feels  that  a 
relative,  especially  the  mother,  with  psychological 
training,  is  the  best  worker  in  this  field  and  warns 
all  others  not  to  attempt  working  with  the  child  until 
en  rapport  with  it.  He  advises  a  study  of  only  one 
group  of  developmental  phenomena  when  one  is  first 
working  in  this  field,  but  feels  that  the  "picture  will 
be  one-sided  and  neglect  much  that  is  important"  (162, 
p.  11).  One  should  observe  both  spontaneous  activi- 
ties of  the  child  and  his  reactions  to  stimuli  purposely 
presented.  The  minor  importance  of  experimentation 
he  states  very  clearly. 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY      35 

"It  must  be  mentioned  that  for  us  the  experiment  has 
far  from  the  significance  it  has  for  the  psychology  of 
the  school  child  and  of  the  adult.  For  as  our  chief 
problem  is  the  natural  development  of  the  child's  men- 
tal life,  we  must  ascribe  observation  of  natural  phe- 
nomena the  chief  place  and  avoid  all  which  is  destined 
to  artificially  influence  and  change  development  itself" 
(162,  p.  12).  Experiments  are  to  be  only  casually  in- 
troduced side  lines  to  verify  certain  points,  although 
they  may  be  carried  out  on  children  who  are  not  being 
continually  observed,  but  even  here  care  must  be  taken 
to  not  fatigue  them. 

Although  in  theory  one  can  distinguish  experiment 
upon  a  child  from  observation  of  him  under  natural 
conditions  the  differentiation  in  any  one  instance  is 
very  difficult.  The  experiment  in  general  is  a  presenta- 
tion of  stimuli  not  present  normally  to  all  or  most 
children  of  that  age,  but  whether  it  is  any  more  artifi- 
cial for  the  son  of  a  psychologist  to  play  with  colored 
balls,  under  observation,  than  it  is  for  the  daughter  of 
a  dressmaker  to  amuse  herself  with  colored  patches 
when  observed  only  enough  to  keep  her  from  harm  is 
a  metaphysical  question.  The  fact  that  a  child's  every 
significant  act  is  being  recorded  probably  means  that 
he  is  living  in  as  artificial  an  environment  when  com- 
pared with  other  children  as  would  be  introduced  in 
any  purely  experimental  study. 

In  general  we  may  say  this  method  of  prolonged  in- 
dividual study  is  the  logical  one  for  genetic  psy- 
chology; the  easiest  from  the  standpoint  of  obtaining 
a  subject;  the  slowest  in  obtaining  results;  the  least 
satisfactory  for  evaluation  and  comparison,  and  apt 
to  be  less  valuable  because  of  its  bulk  and  the  possi- 
bility of  its  becoming  too  much  permeated  with  the 


36  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

personality  of  the  compiler.  The  fact  that  almost 
none  save  German  writers  seems  to  have  thought  of 
using  this  method  in  the  last  decade  shows  that  its  use- 
fulness was  pathfinding,  not  terminal.  Stern's  work 
itself  is  largely  valuable  because  of  the  experiments 
he  adds. 

A  far  better  method,  that  of  studying  the  genetic  de- 
velopment of  one  type  of  mental  activity,  is  the  out- 
growth of  the  biographical  method.  We  see  the  be- 
ginnings of  this  in  the  emphasis  Heyfelder  placed  upon 
language  development  in  his  study  and  in  Preyer's  espe- 
cial attention  to  the  development  of  color  recognition. 
It  is  along  these  two  lines  of  color  and  language  study 
that  most  work  of  this  type  has  been  done.  The  mere 
definitizing  a  smaller  field  for  study  makes  the  results 
more  definite,  less  voluminous  and  more  readily  studied. 
This  method  may  be  carried  out  on  several  children  at 
the  same  time.  In  the  work  on  language,  the  most 
highly  developed  branch  of  this  type  of  study,  we  have 
no  control  of  environment  and  hence  there  are  great 
uncontrolled  individual  variations ;  such  for  instance 
as  the  number  of  words  in  the  vocabulary  of  children 
of  the  same  age  studied  by  different  observers.  The 
Sterns  (163)  have  made  this  type  of  study  on  their 
three  children.  The  voluminous  manner  in  which  this 
one  topic  is  handled  shows  how  gigantic  any  treatise 
of  all  mental  phenomena  of  development  must  be  if  the 
study  be  as  detailed  and  accurate.  Meumann's  "Die 
Sprache  des  Kindes"  (116)  is  also  to  be  noted  here 
as  it  is  more  theoretical  and  gives  a  basis  for  a  working 
concept  of  the  development  of  language  in  the  child. 
In  other  words,  he  is  more  successful  in  generalization. 

A  great  number  of  purely  quantitative  studies  of 
the   size   of   children's   vocabularies   have   been   made. 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  37 

Some  are  more,  some  less  complete.  Where  the  pro- 
gress in  acquisition  of  words  has  been  watched  to- 
gether with  a  record  of  the  total  vocabulary  at  each 
point  we  have  a  far  more  valuable  quantitative  and 
genetic  study.  Grant  (65)  in  his  study  of  his  son's 
vocabulary  and  its  growth  gives  a  most  concise,  care- 
ful treatment,  using  this  method.  The  comparison  with 
other  studies  and  the  bibliography  he  presents  are  also 
good.  But  in  spite  of  the  number  of  such  studies  we 
have  as  yet  no  accepted  or  standard  method  of  gath- 
ering the  data,  nor  have  we  evolved  any  definite  stand- 
ards of  the  size,  rate  of  growth,  and  range  of  the 
vocabulary  of  the  so-called  "average"  child.  We  may 
surely  ascribe  this  to  the  method  which  renders  the  task 
of  gathering  a  great  num.ber  of  such  vocabularies  an 
impossibility  for  any  one  observer,  while  we  lack  suf- 
ficient trained  workers  to  have  put  fifty  or  a  hundred 
on  this  problem  at  the  same  time  with  the  same 
method. 

The  study  of  the  development  of  color  discrimina- 
tion is  far  more  easily  pursued  under  experimental  con- 
ditions and  it  is  to  this  subject  that  Baldwin  early  de- 
voted his  attention.  In  1893  he  published  his  sugges- 
tions for  a  new  method  of  child  study,  calling  the 
method  by  the  term  "dynamogenic."  A  full  presenta- 
tion of  the  method,  its  possibilities  and  the  results  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  it  were  incorporated  in  his  "Men- 
tal Development  in  the  Child  and  the  Race."  Al- 
though this  is  chiefly  an  individual  genetic  study  yet 
experiment  plays  a  large  part  in  furnishing  data  on 
the  developmental  processes  discussed.  Using  the  mo- 
tor response  or  direct  reflex  in  its  simplicity  he  has 
ascertained  the  child's  reaction  to  a  varied  series  of 
situations.     He  recommends  the  use  of  the  hand  move- 


2Gi88;5 


38  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ment  as  the  most  satisfactory  and  shows  that  through 
it  the  development  of  relative  attractiveness  of  two 
stimuli;  relative  attractiveness  (or  better,  stimulative 
ability)  of  two  colors,  two  forms,  or  two  brightnesses; 
the  relative  use  of  right  and  left  hands ;  the  develop- 
ment of  imitative,  voluntary  and  ancillary  movements, 
as  well  as  accuracy  of  estimation  of  distance  may  be 
studied.  The  method  is  used  by  the  author  to  stud}^ 
color  preference  and  the  development  of  right-  and  left- 
handedness. 

The  interest  of  the  author  is,  however,  not  centered 
in  the  experiments  as  such  but  he  writes,  "On  the  whole, 
therefore,  I  attach  very  little  importance  to  the  ex- 
periments apart  from  their  illustrative  value  and  their 
possibly  stimulating  effect  upon  others  who  may  care 
to  extend  them.  For  these  latter  reasons,  however,  as 
much  as  for  the  positive  inferences  I  have  drawn  from 
the  above,  I  have  felt  that  they  ought  not  to  be  un- 
recorded. Their  main  purpose  in  the  progress  and 
plan  of  this  book  is  seen  in  their  witness  to  the  regu- 
larity of  operation  of  the  principle  of  suggestion  or 
dynamogenesis"  (6,  p.  57). 

This  method  stimulated  greatly  the  work  on  color 
discrimination  and  also  that  on  the  rise  of  right-  or 
left-handedness.  Results  may  be  seen  in  the  studies 
of  McDougall  and  Valentine,  already  mentioned,  as 
well  as  in  those  of  Katz  (92),  but  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  work  of  Garbini  on  this  subject  is  far  more 
extensive  and  thorough,  although  he  studied  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  color  sense  by  experimenting  upon  a  num- 
ber of  children  at  different  ages  in  preference  to  con- 
fining himself  wholly  to  following  its  development  in  a 
smaller  number  of  children. 

The  method  of  retrospection,  or  the  use  of  autobiog- 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  39 

raphies  is  far  less  satisfactory.  The  adult  looks  back 
upon  his  early  childhood  as  an  idealized  experience. 
His  attitudes,  understanding,  ideals  are  so  different  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him  to  give  us  a  true  picture 
of  the  child's  attitude  and  ideals  and  thoughts.  Such 
books  as  those  of  Una  Hunt  (85)  and  Pierre  Loti 
(110)  may  give  us  a  real  insight  into  how  adults  re- 
gard their  acts  as  children  but  they  are  not  child  na- 
ture naive  and  simple.  The  work  of  Folsom  (48)  al- 
though dealing  with  a  later  period  of  child  life  is  a 
suggestion  which  may  lead  to  better  things.  The  day- 
book kept  by  his  mother  and  the  records  in  his  own 
writings  give  a  basis  of  fact  from  which  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  stray.  If  we  could  have  a  biographical  study 
of  a  child  and  then  later  his  independent  and  sponta- 
neous autobiography,  if  this  might  be  done  in  only  one 
instance,  the  relative  value  of  the  autobiography  might 
be  more  readily  estimated,  but  even  then  the  proba- 
bilities are  that  its  value  would  be  for  adult  rather  than 
child  psychology,  and  would  connect  this  method  with 
another  already  in  use,  that  of  psycho-analysis. 

Psycho-analysis  is  not,  properly  speaking,  a  child 
study  method  but  again  a  method  secondarily  con- 
cerned with  the  things  that  have  impressed  the  child 
and  primarily  a  method  of  investigating  the  undue  per- 
sistence in  the  adult  of  unfortunately  conditioned  as- 
sociations and  their  emotional  concomitants.  By  it  we 
can  trace  the  complex  functionings  of  the  adult  back  to 
infantile  states  but  we  cannot  foretell  in  similar  detail 
the  development  of  such  states  in  the  child. 

The  methods  mentioned  so  far  are  largely  individual 
in  their  application,  but  there  are  several  others  which 
are  distinctly  applicable  to  a  more  or  less  extensive 
group.    Of  these  the  questionnaire  or  statistical  method 


40  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

has  been  the  most  widely  used  and  with  the  most  varied 
value  in  the  results.  Its  characteristics  fit  it  for  a 
special  type  of  study.  The  observations  may  reach 
into  the  tens  of  thousands,  and  come  from  a  widely 
distributed  group  of  observers.  These  are  both  ad- 
vantages but  precautions  must  be  observed  in  its  usage 
or  there  will  be  disadvantages  also.  Unless  the  ques- 
tions are  clear  and  specific  the  answers  are  apt  to  be 
less  pertinent  and  hence  less  valuable.  The  question- 
naire should  not  be  too  long  or  the  demand  upon  the 
observer's  good-will  will  outlast  his  attention.  The 
evaluation  of  the  results  must  allow  for  the  use  of  an 
indirect  method  and  not  stress  the  importance  of  minor 
diff'erences.  Keeping  these  points  well  in  mind  the 
method  has  certain  very  specific  values.  Hall  has  used 
it  with  especial  success  to  gather  data  regarding  those 
forms  of  individual  experience  which  can  not  easily 
be  experimented  upon  in  the  laboratory.  Especially 
significant  is  his  work  on  fear  (72).  It  is  to  the 
broad  vision  given  by  such  studies  that  his  volumes 
on  adolescence  owe  much  of  their  seer-like  quahties. 
This  method  is  also  less  apt  to  be  unreliable  if  the  data 
gathered  are  objective  results  such  as  children's  draw- 
ings or  if  they  have  a  numerical  basis  such  as  would 
be  involved  in  a  study  of  height,  weight  or  counting 
ability. 

Another  method  is  the  study  of  only  one  or  two 
mental  processes  in  a  large  number  of  children.  If 
we  contrast  this  with  the  biographical  method  we  see 
that  they  stand  at  right  angles  to  each  other.  The  bio- 
graphical method  follows  the  child  as  he  ascends  in 
experience.  The  quantitative  method  takes  any  one 
point  in  his  ascent,  cross-sections  it  and  studies  its  con- 
dition not  only  in  the  exceptional  children  but  in  all 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  41 

children.  One  of  the  first  pieces  of  work  done  in  this 
way  was  that  of  Binct  (13)  on  line  comparison  and 
number  perception.  This  was  done  in  1890.  Although 
his  methods  are  very  crude  and  the  study  was  made 
only  upon  his  two  daughters  then  32  and  52  months 
of  age  it  is  a  beginning  of  his  work  which  leads  to  two 
types  of  study,  to  a  purely  scientific  study  of  the  men- 
tal processes  of  young  children,  on  one  hand,  and,  on 
the  other,  to  a  standardization  of  processes  possible 
at  definite  ages  in  order  to  estimate  the  relation  of  any 
one  child's  ability  to  that  of  the  group  for  his  age. 
These  are  the  so-called  "tests  of  intelligence.'*  These 
two  lines  are  really  one  and  the  same  type  of  study. 
Any  process  that  has  been  so  thoroughly  and  volumi- 
nously studied  that  we  know  what  ability  in  that  line 
to  expect  of  a  child  of  any  given  age  is  a  "standard- 
ized" process.  Henceforth  trying  it  out  upon  any 
given  child  is  merely  ascertaining  his  relation  to  the 
rest  of  the  group,  or  in  other  words  it  is  a  "test,"  It 
will  at  once  be  seen,  however,  that  this  is  true  only 
under  certain  conditions,  namely,  if  the  original  study 
has  been  made  under  controlled  conditions  which  may 
be  exactly  reproduced  when  our  individual  child  is 
tested.  Such  a  method  complies  with  the  demands  of 
experimental  psychology  and  its  use  as  a  test  fulfills 
the  demands  of  applied,  especially  clinical,  psychology. 

Many  studies  have  combined  two  or  more  of  these 
methods  such  as  biography  and  slight  experimentation, 
biography  with  statistical  and  comparative  confirma- 
tion, questionnaire  and  observation,  developmental  and 
group  experiments.  The  results  are  of  varied  signifi- 
cance. 

If  we  were  to  attempt  the  formulation  of  a  textbook 
of  the  psychology  of  the  first  five  or  six  years  of  life 


42  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

on  the  same  general  plan  as  we  would  formulate  a  text 
on  adult  psychology  we  should  find  some  phases  so  un- 
touched by  child  study  tliat  all  we  could  do  would  be 
to  state  our  ignorance.  In  other  phases  the  accumu- 
lated facts  are  so  multitudinous  that  they  would  form 
whole  books  in  themselves.  This  is  not  all  due  to  the 
developmental  and  evolutionary  character  of  child 
study  material  but  also  to  the  factors  which  largely 
influenced  its  development.  Before  evolution  as  a 
theory  was  advanced,  there  could  be  little  need  of 
studying  the  evolution  of  the  child's  mind  more  than 
just  enough  to  determine  when  his  "faculties"  were  suf- 
ficiently developed  to  make  education  possible  and 
probable.  Nor  could  experimental  methods  be  used 
until  experimental  psychology  had  become  a  fact.  Con- 
sequently the  earliest  work  in  child  study  was  either 
the  observation  of  his  development  for  the  purpose  of 
founding  on  such  evidence  sound  educational  princi- 
ples, as  was  the  avowed  purpose  of  Tiedemann  and 
Froebel,  or  due  to  the  purely  scientific  interest  of  a 
group  of  men  not  dependent  upon  psychological  meth- 
ods. This  is  the  group  with  medical  training,  Lobisch, 
Sigismund,  Kussmaul.  They  used  the  physiological 
method  and  although  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  time 
at  which  a  child  begins  to  show  that  he  hears  sounds 
or  perceives  light  is  less  necessary  for  medical  practice 
than  for  educating  the  child,  the  purely  scientific  in- 
terest in  the  child  developed  along  these  lines  just  be- 
cause there  was  a  method  by  which  these  phenomena 
could  be  studied  while  the  avenues  of  approach  to  men- 
tal processes  themselves  seemed  closed  or  lacking. 

Consequently  the  studies  on  the  development  of  the 
senses  have  been  numerous  and  persist  as  a  favorite 
subject  for  investigation  in  physiological  psychology 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  43 

to-day,  although  the  method  used  has  gradually  passed 
from  individual  observation  to  a  statistical,  experi- 
mental procedure.  This  is  easily  seen  if  we  compare 
the  work  of  Kussmaul  with  the  study  by  Peterson  and 
Rainey  (135),  in  which  they  studied  1060  children 
born  in  the  same  hospital  and  kept  under  the  same 
conditions  for  the  first  few  days  of  life.  Various  com- 
pilations of  these  findings  have  been  made  such  as  those 
found  in  the  work  of  Tracy  (176),  Chamberlain  (29), 
Cramaussel  (33),  Gaupp  (53)  and  Tanner  (ITl). 

Besides  sensory  development  many  observations  have 
been  made  upon  the  motor  development  of  the  child. 
Here  again  we  must  rely  largely  upon  the  individual 
studies.  The  age  at  which  the  child  holds  its  head 
erect,  sits,  creeps,  stands,  walks,  the  appearance  of 
tactual  and  distance  prehension  have  all  been  minutely 
recorded  by  Sigismund,  Preyer,  Shinn  and  others. 
Some  work  on  the  standardization  of  the  time  at  which 
these  develop  was  done  by  Binet  and  Simon  (16)  in 
1904. 

The  work  of  Dearborn  (35)  should  be  mentioned 
here.  It  is  the  study  of  a  child's  development  but  not 
made  in  the  same  manner  as  the  other  individual  studies. 
The  author  keeps  an  objective  attitude  and,  focusing 
especially  upon  the  child's  motor  and  sensory  activities, 
records  them  day  by  day,  keeping  his  comments  differ- 
entiated from  the  actual  observations.  The  arrange- 
ment and  method  give  the  book  significant  value  as  a 
modem  scientific  contribution  and  indicate  many  de- 
velopmental features  that  should  be  investigated  by  the 
statistical  method. 

The  data  on  memory  is  to  be  found  chiefly  in  the 
pages  of  the  biographical  or  individual  studies  which 
record  the  spontaneous  utterance  of  recalled  situations 


44  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

and  the  recognition  of  persons  and  places  known  at  an 
earlier  period.  Lately,  however,  we  have  the  adoption 
of  an  experimental  method  and  an  already  valuable 
literature  on  memory  as  studied  through  the  Aussage 
method.  We  must  note  especially  the  work  of  Stern 
(161,  164),  while  the  workers  with  mental  tests  de- 
pend perhaps  too  much  upon  the  use  of  this  method 
and  the  method  of  immediate  recall  because  of  develop- 
ment of  norms  of  memory  span  for  auditory  presenta- 
tion of  digits,  sentences,  etc. 

Correlated  with  this  work  on  the  Aussage  we  should 
mention  that  of  Binet  (14,  15)  which  gives  the  basis 
for  Stern's  work  although  it  deals  largely  with  older 
children. 

Winch  (186)  made  a  widely  extended  study  of  ob- 
servation and  report  upon  English  school  children  but 
includes  infant  schools,  and,  consequently,  children 
from  three  to  seven  years  of  age.  These  were  picked 
to  represent  bright,  average  and  dull  children,  in  all 
giving  ten  of  each  at  each  age.  The  three-year-old 
children  could  not  correct  their  first  Aussage  con- 
cerning the  picture  but  older  ones  could.  The  power 
of  reporting  grew  more  rapidly  than  the  power  of  ob- 
servation while  the  demand  for  production  and  repro- 
duction of  what  was  seen  when  the  picture  was  origi- 
nally shown  did  not  improve  the  memory  of  it  but  ren- 
dered it  more  imperfect.  The  improvement  in  report 
is  a  steady  one  from  the  age  of  three  up  to  seven  but 
less  regular  above  that. 

The  study  of  Ballard  (7)  on  memory  and  forgetting 
touches  only  the  upper  end  of  this  period.  The  young- 
est children  he  studied  were  five  years  old.  He  used 
simple  verse  and  tested  the  amount  they  recalled  and 
the  improvement  in  learning.     He  found  that  younger 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  45 

children  improved  more,  and  more  rapidly,  than  older 
children  but  his  results  are  open  to  some  criticism  as 
he  used  more  difficult  material  and  sometimes  a  differ- 
ent mode  of  presentation  with  older  children. 

Kammel  (90)  tries  to  make  use  of  retrospection,  un- 
der partially  controlled  conditions.  He  saw  the  sub- 
jects himself  and  explained  his  desire  to  them  having 
them  write  their  earliest  remembrance.  After  three 
months  he  saw  them  again  and  asked  for  a  report  of 
any  earlier  memories.  Out  of  344  pupils  from  12  to 
20  years  of  age  only  four  remembered  any  earlier  event 
and  only  16  changed  minor  details  of  the  former  rec- 
ord. He  feels  this  method  is  better  than  the  ques- 
tionnaire method  used  by  Miles  (118),  Henri  (77)  and 
others.  The  results  are  not  very  enlightening  from 
the  standpoint  of  child  psychology.  The  earliest  mem- 
ory is  most  apt  to  come  from  the  fourth  year  of  life, 
although  some  come  from  as  early  a  period  as  the 
second  year.  The  fact  remembered  by  the  child  is 
more  apt  to  be  aroused  by  some  external  situation  than 
by  his  own  person  and  is  apt  to  be  preserved  in  visual 
imagery  and  have  a  strong  emotional  background. 

Another  line  of  study,  that  of  language  develop- 
ment, is  also  one  not  needing  very  intricate  methods 
but  simply  careful  observation.  Consequently  the  rise 
of  this  part  of  child  psychology  has  also  been  inde- 
pendent of  the  development  of  modern  methods. 
Through  the  study  of  language  development  not  only 
is  the  acquisition  of  voluntary  control  of  the  vocal  or- 
gans to  be  observed,  but  the  psychologist  reads  into  it 
and  studies  through  it  the  beginnings  of  learning  or 
formation  of  associations.  The  child  first  learns  to 
associate  the  spoken  word  with  the  object  or  action. 
Then  as  he  learns  to  say  the  word  he  applies  it  to  the 


46     .  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

object  himself  and  gradually  develops  the  ability  to 
use  groups  of  words.  Whether  his  understanding  of 
situations  grows  as  his  use  of  language  grows  is  a 
matter  of  speculation.  The  objective  evidence  of  lan- 
guage is  in  itself  valuable  for  the  genetic  and  compara- 
tive psychologist  and  also  for  the  student  of  anthro- 
pology and  sociology  but  it  tells  us  little  of  the  po- 
tentiality of  the  mind  behind  the  expressions.  Such 
great  individual  and  group  variations  are  found,  proba- 
bly due  partly  to  environmental  conditions,  that  the 
study  of  the  language  development  is  difficult  enough 
without  complicating  it  by  attempting  too  many  infer- 
ences regarding  the  conditions  of  its  development. 

Most  of  the  language  studies  deal  with  its  develop- 
ment through  the  first  three  years  of  life.  The  size  of 
vocabular}'^  and  consequent  increase  in  complexity  of  its 
usage  make  any  complete  study  above  that  age  rather 
difficult.  There  are  some  studies  that  deal  with  one 
phase  or  another  of  speech  of  the  period  from  three 
to  six  but  nothing  complete  enough  to  bridge  the  gap 
entirely.  With  the  older  children,  especially  those  just 
entering  school,  other  cross-sectioning  methods  are 
used.  These  are  usually  verbal  association  methods 
or  the  methods  of  definition  and  explanation  of  a  list 
of  words  such  as  were  used  by  Lange,  Hall,  Netschajeff 
and  others  in  studying  the  contents  of  children's  minds. 
The  method,  consequently,  does  not  give  direct  infor- 
mation regarding  language  usage  itself  but  rather  re- 
garding the  comprehension  of  it  and  the  studies  have 
been  largely  pedagogical  in  their  purpose.  Pohlmann's 
(138)  work  is  the  best  example  of  the  application  of 
this  method,  extending  its  usage  on  children  of  all 
ages  up  to  fourteen.  His  work  touches  the  fore-school 
period  as  it  includes  a  study  of  six  five-  and  six-year- 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  47 

old  children.  This  number,  however,  is  small  and  he 
reports  such  a  large  percentage  of  admissions  of  igno- 
rance of  the  words  or  refusals  to  answer  that  one 
doubts  whether  his  method  was  applied  with  sufficient 
admixture  of  understanding  of  these  younger  children. 

One  other  study,  that  of  Engelsperger  and  Ziegler 
(43)  should  be  mentioned  here.  Motivated  by  the 
studies  on  cliildren  entering  school,  they  attempted  a 
more  scientific  and  exact  study  of  not  only  the  mental 
but  physical  development  in  a  group  of  nearly  500 
children  just  beginning  school  work.  The  psychologi- 
cal study,  although  confined  to  the  development  of  the 
color  sense,  is  very  detailed.  Color  perception,  match- 
ing and  naming  were  studied  and  significant  indica- 
tions of  the  narrowness  of  range  of  discrimination  were 
found.  Interesting  sex  differences  are  also  indicated 
by  their  tables,  but  so  far  as  mental  processes  go  we 
know  but  little  more  than  we  did  before.  The  study 
is  one  of  knowledge  acquired,  not  of  processes. 

Aside  from  the  work  on  memory  and  language  and 
the  study  of  the  learning  process  thus  involved  very 
little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  process  of  acquisi- 
tion itself.  There  is  no  literature  available  upon  which 
to  base  a  discussion  of  the  learning  process  of  the  in- 
fant which  would  be  similar  to  and  supplement  that  of 
Meumann  (117)  on  school  children  and  adults. 

The  only  other  subject  widely  investigated  which 
might  be  said  to  belong  to  child  psychology  is  that  of 
the  activities  of  children,  their  games,  arts  and  occu- 
pations. Few  of  these  are  subject  to  experimental 
control  but  we  have  an  advantage  in  studying  one  form 
of  activity  which  is  objective  in  its  results — this  is 
drawing.  A  great  deal  has  been  done  with  the  study 
of  spontaneous  productions  of  copies  of  objects  and 


48  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

of  illustrations  of  stories.  The  studies  of  Ricci  (144), 
Elmer  Brown  (20)  and  Barnes  (8)  are  all  valuable 
although  they  deal  less  with  the  children  under  school 
age  than  with  those  of  school  age.  They  do  give  us 
some  idea  of  the  things  present  in  the  child's  concept, 
say  of  a  man  or  a  chair,  but  tell  us  little  of  how  he 
develops  that  concept. 

Even  such  a  brief  survey  of  the  field  convinces  one 
that  the  number  of  studies  made  upon  the  mind  of  the 
pre-school  child  by  the  methods  of  experimental  psy- 
chology are  few.  Why  is  this  all  psychology  has  had 
to  offer  here?    There  are  at  least  three  definite  reasons. 

The  investigation  of  the  child  mind  was  first  moti- 
vated by  a  desire  to  gather  in  this  field  facts  that  would 
help  pedagogues.  This  aim  naturally  limited  the  ma- 
jority of  studies  to  children  of  school  age,  although 
the  importance  of  a  knowledge  of  the  child  of  pre- 
school age  has  often  been  emphasized  but  even  when 
so  emphasized  the  attitude  is  not  purely  scientific  and 
has  been  beautifully  described  by  Burnham,  who  writes 
"The  prime  motive  for  such  study  has  generally  been 
the  training  of  teachers  in  the  observation  of  children. 
It  has  been  done  directly  for  the  sake  of  the  teachers ; 
indirectly  for  the  sake  of  the  child,  and  incidentallj' 
for  the  sake  of  science"  (23,  p.  198). 

Another  factor  is  the  difficulty  of  securing  any  con- 
siderable number  of  young  children  who  wiU  form  a 
rather  unselected  group.  This  is  evidenced  by  the  lack 
of  extended  studies  upon  the  periods  between  earliest 
infancy,  where  babies  are  available  in  maternity  hos- 
pitals, and  the  kindergarten  school  age  which  again 
brings  them  together  in  a  social  group.  The  child 
of  two,  three  or  four  lives  in  the  home,  not  in  a  large 
group  of  his  kind.     Hence  each  must  be  sought  alone. 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  49 

The  rise  of  interest  in  evolution  has  also  tended  to 
strengthen  the  natural  conditions  which  make  for  the 
study  of  the  individual. 

But  the  most  important  reasons  for  neglect  of  scien- 
tific studies  of  mind  in  this  period  lie  in  experimental 
psychology  itself.  Experimental  psychology  is  com- 
paratively new,  it  is  still  in  many  fields  working  out 
more  satisfactory  details  of  procedure  and  apparatus 
for  its  adult  subjects.  The  methods  have  evolved 
around  introspection  and  are  such  as  necessitate  it 
as  a  part  of  the  procedure.  This  at  once  makes  it  dif- 
ficult for  the  psychologist  studying  the  adult  to  see 
how  the  infant  could  be  experimented  upon  since  he 
surely  can  not  introspect;  although  a  species  of  report 
may  be  obtained  from  his  older  brothers  or  sisters. 
Anient,  for  instance,  says  that  we  can  not  experiment 
upon  the  young  child  with  full  satisfaction  because  the 
child  is  a  growing  person  and  the  use  of  many  experi- 
ments depends  upon  the  development  of  the  processes 
to  be  studied,  while,  he  writes,  "The  possibility  of  ex- 
perimenting with  the  child  develops  as  the  child  de- 
velops" (3,  p.  100).  Only  as  the  child  approximates 
the  mental  equipment  of  the  adult  can  we  hope  to  study 
him  in  a  similar  manner. 

Chrisman  advised  laboratory  study  of  the  child  of 
three  years  or  under  in  his  dissertation  in  1896.  He 
notes  the  need  of  not  over-fatiguing  the  child  and  in- 
sists that  "no  experiment  dare  be  unpleasant  or  the 
least  bit  harmful"  (31,  p.  42),  but  when  he  comes  to 
outline  the  work  that  is  to  be  done  in  the  laboratory  he 
gives  the  directions  for  an  elaborate  anthropometric 
study  and  then  confines  his  directions  for  mental  ob- 
servation to  sensory  discrimination,  especially  of  color. 

Peper   (131),  too,  approves  of  the  use  of  experi- 


50  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ments  but  In  his  attempt  to  give  a  list  of  experiments 
to  be  tried  we  find  he  mentions  all  those  which  are 
usually  used  upon  older  subjects  and  he  gives  no  sug- 
gestions for  modifications  to  be  made  for  use  upon 
younger  children. 

Groos  {66)  rather  discourages  any  attempt  at  ob- 
servation under  controlled  conditions  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  simplifying  our  methods.  He  feels  that  If, 
however,  we  can  apply  an  experimental  method  and  at 
the  same  time  keep  the  child  entirely  Ignorant  of  our 
purpose  it  is  the  best  plan  to  pursue. 

Wundt  represents  fairly  well  the  attitude  experi- 
mental psychologists  have  held  when  he  says  "Animal 
and  child  psychology  are  relatively  of  less  value  when 
compared  with  the  physiological  disciplines  of  human 
and  comparative  history  of  development"  (187,  p.  6). 
But  Stumpf  (165)  takes  a  more  optimistic  view  and 
points  out  that  although  we  can  study  the  child  only 
through  his  reactions  to  external  and  Internal  stimuli, 
yet  this  Indirect  method  is  probably  balanced  by  the 
fact  that  the  child  shows  his  reactions  with  less  dis- 
sembling and  control  than  the  adult. 

Ufer,  too,  relies  mainly  upon  prolonged  observa- 
tion of  the  individual  although  he  does  state  that  "Ob- 
servation under  experimental  conditions  also  has  Its 
justification"  (177,  p.  70). 

However,  it  Is  not  until  we  come  to  the  work  of  Katz 
that  we  find  an  ardent  champion  of  the  use  of  the 
scientific  method  In  studying  young  children. 

Katz  points  out  in  answer  to  Ament's  statement  of 
the  Impossibility  of  studying  the  child  that  "the  pos- 
sibility of  experimenting  with  the  child  decreases  with 
the  development  of  the  child"  (92,  p.  21).  He  points 
out  that  the  mere  fact  that  a  young  child  cannot  In- 


RESULTS  OF  CHILD  STUDY  51 

trospect  in  itself  constitutes  a  problem  worth  investi- 
gating while  the  impossibility  of  using  the  introspec- 
tive method  should  not  be  thought  to  be  synonymous, 
as  it  has  been  by  Ament  and  many  others,  with  the 
impossibility  of  studj'ing  the  child  by  a  method  built 
up  with  especial  regard  for  the  child  characteristics. 

Katz  feels  that  he  has  a  method  which  is  an  infant 
psychology  method  and  which  will  bring  results  which 
we  can  get  in  no  other  way,  and  he  applies  the  ex- 
perimental method  in  the  study  of  the  origin  of  color, 
form  and  size  concepts  and  hence  of  abstraction.  He 
used  S9  children  between  the  ages  of  two  and  a  half  and 
six  and  a  half  years  of  age  and  found  no  difficulty  in 
keeping  the  children  interested  and  happy. 

If  we  wish  to  know  how  he  first  conceived  the  idea 
of  using  the  experimental  method  with  children  we  can 
find  the  answer  in  his  earlier  study  with  Revesz  (91). 
This  was  originally  a  study  of  the  memory  and  learn- 
ing of  hens  but  in  the  interests  of  comparison  they 
made  a  study  of  twelve  children  between  the  ages  of 
one  and  a  half  and  five  years  of  age,  using  the  same 
method,  only  substituting  play  counters  of  different 
colors  for  the  different  kinds  of  grain  given  the  chick- 
ens. They  also  used  a  verbal  Aufgabe  but  felt  that 
the  children,  especially  the  younger  ones,  comprehend- 
ed the  situation  more  through  the  environmental  con- 
ditions than  through  the  actual  verbal  directions. 

This  leads  us  to  ask  whether  the  adoption  of  the 
methods  of  animal  psychology  is  unique  with  Katz  or 
whether  others  have  made  similar  usage  of  it.  The 
attempts  so  far  are  not  numerous  but  they  represent 
a  new  endeavor  to  reach  a  scientific  method  of  studying 
the  child  and  are  consequently  worth  surveying. 

Any   usage   of  the   child   under  methods    of   study 


52  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

which  approximate  those  of  comparative  psychology 
will  not  be  handicapped  by  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
mental  processes  of  the  child  but  will  deal  primarily 
with  his  behavior  or  his  objective  reaction  to  definite 
stimuli  presented  in  a  definite  manner  under  controlled 
conditions.  How  much  have  the  methods  of  behavior- 
ism or  objective  psychology  so  far  contributed  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  child  ? 


CHAPTER  III 
BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY 

THE  study  of  behavior  has  come  to  mean  the  study 
of  any  of  the  visible  and  external  movements  of 
the  organism,  whether  man  or  the  lower  animals  be  the 
object  of  study.  The  explanation  of  the  movements 
studied  is  made  as  far  as  possible  in  purely  objective 
terms  and  subjective  interpretations  are  carefully 
avoided.  Animal  psychology,  since  its  development 
from  the  anecdotal  stage,  depends  almost  entirely  upon 
this  method  but  the  study  of  behavior  is  not  purely 
psychological.  As  Parmelee  (126)  points  out  the 
study  of  behavior  involves  the  study  of  anatomical 
structure  and  physiological  processes  and  is  conse- 
quently fundamentally  biological,  while  it  is  psychologi- 
cal when  mental  processes  are  involved  and  sociological 
when  the  behavior  is  influenced  by  association  with 
other  human  beings. 

The  confusion  of  this  distinction  disappears,  how- 
ever, if  we  assume  another  point  of  view.  Psychology 
is  in  reality  only  a  part  of  the  larger  science  of  life  in 
general  which  we  call  biology  and  hence  assumes  as  its 
basis  the  presence  of  structure  and  physiological 
processes  in  the  organism.  Social  reactions  it  does  not 
consider  as  other  than  reactions  to  living  stimuli  and 
so  essentially  the  same  in  process  as  the  reactions  to 
inanimate  objects.  This  attitude  is  that  adopted  by 
present-day  comparative  psychologists  and  is  well  ex- 

53 


54  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

pressed  by  Watson  (184)  in  his  book  on  behavior. 

Although  written  primarily  as  an  introduction  to 
comparative  psychology  Watson's  book  is  not  limited 
to  the  field  implied  by  such  an  aim.  In  it  he  touches 
upon  and  takes  a  definite  attitude  towards  many  ques- 
tions that  will  probably  remain  as  bones  of  contention 
for  many  years.  He  writes,  "Psychology,  as  the  be- 
haviorist  views  it,  is  a  purely  objective,  experimental 
branch  of  natural  science  which  needs  introspection 
as  little  as  do  the  sciences  of  chemistry  and  physics." 
The  theoretical  goal  of  behavioristic  psychology  is  "the 
prediction  and  control  of  behavior"  (p.  1).  This 
shows  at  once  the  field  of  study  the  behaviorist  pre- 
empts. The  adjustments  of  the  organism,  whether 
it  be  amoeba  or  man,  will  be  observed  and  correlated 
with  the  potent  stimuli  under  conditions  which  make  it 
possible  for  the  results  to  be  verified.  Although  hop- 
ing for  concessions  on  the  part  of  the  experimental  in- 
trospectionists  so  that  the  work  from  the  two  view- 
points may  be  mutually  helpful,  yet  these  are  not  be- 
ing taken  for  granted  and  Watson  writes,  "Should  hu- 
man psychologists  fail  to  look  with  favor  upon  our 
overtures  and  refuse  to  modify  their  position,  the  be- 
haviorists  will  be  driven  to  use  human  beings  as  subjects 
and  employ  methods  of  investigation  which  are  exactly 
comparable  to  those  now  employed  in  the  animal 
work"  (p.  3). 

The  behaviorist  looks  upon  the  organism  as  a  ma- 
chine and  only  insists  that  in  concept  this  "machine 
be  not  too  simple  to  enable  it  to  perform  all  the  multi- 
tudinous demands  which  the  behaviorist  must  make 
upon  it"  (p.  52).  The  organism,  under  study,  is  char- 
acterized by  two  types  of  behavior,  instinct  and  habit. 
Both  of  these  are  made  up  of  reflexes.     The  neural 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      55 

basis  of  these  reflexes  is  inherited  and  "It  is  probable, 
furthermore,  that  at  the  birth  of  the  animal  or  soon 
afterwards  all  possible  nervous  connections  are  already 
established  and  that  all  later  development — all  adjust- 
ments of  the  animal  to  changes  in  its  environment  by 
habit  formation  involve  only  changes  in  resistance 
through  various  inherited  areas.  Thus  the  possible 
habits  which  an  organism  may  acquire  are  limited  by  its 
nervous  structures"  (p.  151). 

"Reflex,  then,  as  a  unit  of  analysis  of  instinct  (as 
also  of  habit  .  .  .)  in  the  modified  sense  in  which 
we  use  the  term,  embraces  (1)  the  fairly  definite  and 
generally  predictable  but  unlearned  responses  of  lower 
and  higher  organisms  to  stimuli  .  .  .  We  must  be  care- 
ful .  .  .  not  to  overemphasize  the  concept  of  invaria- 
bility and  predictability,  since  depending  upon  the 
physiological  state  of  the  organisms  we  find,  in  ex- 
treme cases,  the  situation  where  a  stimulus  which  at  one 
time  produces  positive  response  may,  under  other  con- 
ditions produce  negative  response  .  .  .  (2)  We  have 
in  the  case  of  both  vetebrates  and  invertebrates  many 
cases  of  highly  unstable  and  indefinite  response"  (p. 
110). 

Habit  may  be  diff'erentiated  from  the  instinct  in  that 
the  group  of  reflexes  which  form  it  are  organized  into 
the  order  (or  temporal  order  of  the  unfolding  of  the  ele- 
ments) and  pattern  (or  number  and  localization  of  the 
simple  reflex  arcs  involved)  within  the  life  period  of 
the  individual.  "What  is  new  in  habit  is  the  organi- 
zation. The  elements,  in  general,  are  as  old,  or  as 
new  as  the  race"  (p.  109). 

The  "present  end  of  analysis,  then,  in  behavior  will 
be  the  reduction  of  complex  form  of  response  to  simple 
reflexes."     In  many  phases  the  analysis  must  for  the 


66  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

time  be  but  partial  as  both  the  extra-  and  the  intra- 
organic stimulations  function  in  the  determination  of 
the  observable  response  and  in  many  cases  the  intra- 
organic stimulation  cannot  be  accurately  determined. 

Yerkes  holds  a  similar  view  and  writes :  "Human  be- 
havior is  only  a  part,  albeit  a  most  important  part,  of 
the  materials  of  the  general  science  of  organic  behavior. 
It  presents  essentially  the  same  kinds  of  problems  as 
does  the  behavior  of  any  other  mammal ;  and  it  must  be 
studied  by  methods  similar  to,  if  not  actually  identical 
with,  those  emphasized  by  the  student  of  infra-human 
behavior"  (189,  p.  625). 

Only  a  very  few  studies  of  children  have  been  made 
by  psychologists  holding  such  a  view  of  psychology  as 
behavior.  They  are  consequently  worth  noting  indi- 
vidually. 

In  1911,  Hamilton  reported  a  study  made  for  the 
sake  of  comparing  the  reactions  of  various  mammals. 
He  used  a  method  of  quadruple  choice.  Four  possible 
exits  from  a  confining  chamber  led  to  food  and  escape. 
All  doors  but  one  were  closed  and  the  one  opened  varied 
from  trial  to  trial.  The  task  was  to  find  the  correct 
exit,  and  hence  food,  with  the  smallest  number  of  un- 
successful attempts.  Various  mammals,  cats,  dogs,  a 
horse,  were  used  as  well  as  a  normal  adult,  children  and 
several  defectives.  All  but  one  of  these,  an  infant  of 
26  months,  were  of  school  age  or  over.  The  infant  was 
stimulated  with  toys  when  "commendation  proved  insuf- 
ficient as  a  motive  for  reaction"  (74,  p.  38).  This  child 
is  reported  as  walking,  talking,  but  not  in  sentences, 
and  as  being  very  quick  to  form  new  associations. 

If  the  child  had  tried  each  door  once  until  he  found 
the  correct  one  the  number  of  trials  he  would  have 
needed  for  success  due  to  pure  chance  would  have  been 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      57 

250  for  the  100  successes  required.  As  it  happened  he 
used  315  trials  and  many  of  his  trials  (34.21%) 
were  re-trials  of  the  same  door  and  hence  non-selective 
in  character. 

The  study  is  interesting  although  less  valuable  be- 
cause made  on  only  one  individual  in  early  childhood 
but  fails  to  give  us  any  statement  of  the  exact  verbal 
and  objective  stimuli  used. 

Yerkes  uses  a  multiple  choice  method  which  is  some- 
what similar  to  the  quadruple  choice  of  Hamilton  but 
more  variable.  He  says,  "The  method  has  been  em- 
ployed in  experiments  with  normal  and  defective  chil- 
dren, normal  and  insane  adults,  pigs,  rats,  crows  and 
ring  doves"  (192,  p.  186). 

So  far  however  only  the  results  upon  crows,  pigs  and 
monkeys  have  been  published.  That  it  is  a  satisfactory 
method  for  working  with  human  beings  seems  evident 
from  a  statement  in  his  recent  publication  on  its  use 
with  monkeys.  He  writes :  "The  method  has  been  ap- 
plied with  most  gratifying  results  to  the  study  of  the 
characteristics  of  ideational  behavior  in  human  defec- 
tives— children,  and  adults — and  in  subjects  afflicted 
with  various  forms  of  mental  disease"  (188,  p.  9). 

In  the  same  manuscript  he  reports  the  behavior  of  a 
child  forty  months  old  as  compared  with  that  of  an 
orang-utan.  A  banana  was  suspended  from  a  string 
at  a  point  too  high  to  be  reached  unless  2  boxes  were 
stacked  and  then  stood  upon.  The  child  was  asked  to 
get  the  banana  for  the  orang  and  made  a  number  of 
attempts  to  reach  it  interspersing  them  with  play  and 
interest  in  other  objects  and  finally  losing  all  inter- 
est so  that  the  experiment  was  discontinued  after  55 
minutes.  The  orang  showed  great  concentration  of 
attention    and   Yerkes    contrasts   his    behavior   favor- 


58  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ably  with  that  of  the  child.  Any  comparison,  how- 
ever, seems  rather  arbitrary  when  we  recall  the  con- 
ditions. The  orang  was  striving  for  food,  the  thing 
he  understood  best,  and  the  stimuli  from  the  situa- 
tion would  be  reinforced  by  habit  and  any  hunger  sen- 
sations. The  child  was  given  a  verbal  Aufgabe  and 
the  interest  aroused  in  the  banana  was  not  the  ego- 
centric one  of  self-acquisition  and  self-satisfaction  but 
an  appeal  to  his  sympathy  for  the  orang.  The  sit- 
uations are  very  different  and  the  results  naturally  are 
not  alike  in  the  two  instances. 

The  maze  has  been  used  with  human  subjects  but  no 
one  has  tried  it  on  very  young  subjects.  Hicks  and 
Carr  (80)  used  it  upon  children  as  young  as  eight 
years  of  age  but  below  this  age  we  find  no  records  al- 
though the  method  is  probably  applicable  if  care  be 
taken  to  increase  the  complexity  of  the  situation  gradu- 
ally. There  should  be  no  difficulty  about  using  the 
method  without  a  direct  verbal  Aufgabe. 

Hunter  (86)  used  the  method  of  delayed  reactions 
upon  raccoons,  rats,  dogs  and  children.  There  were 
five  children  in  all,  one  two  and  a  half  years  old,  three 
six  years  of  age  and  one  eight  years  old.  The  method 
with  the  children  differed  radically  from  that  used  with 
the  animals,  the  play  attitude  was  suggested  and  the 
verbal  Aufgabe  given.  The  task  was  as  follows :  The 
child  was  behind  a  gate  with  the  experimenter.  On  the 
opposite  side  of  the  room  were  three  buttons  wliich  when 
pushed  might  make  a  noise  or  not  as  the  experimenter 
desired.  Above  the  buttons  were  electric  lights.  The 
child  was  told  and  taught  through  accommodating 
practice  that  if  he  pushed  the  proper  button  it  would 
buzz  and  if  he  pushed  this  noisy  button  first  he  would 
get  some  candy.     Then  the  light  over  some  one  button 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      59 

was  switched  on  and  off,  the  child  was  detained  a  num- 
ber of  seconds,  varying  in  the  different  trials,  and  then 
allowed  to  press  the  button.  During  the  delay  inter- 
val, which  sometimes  lasted  twenty  minutes  or  more, 
the  child  talked  to  or  exchanged  stories  with  the  experi- 
menter, drew  pictures  and  in  some  cases  of  long  delay 
was  given  candy. 

The  children  had  to  acquire  the  association  of  the 
light  and  button  for  themselves  and  develop  some 
method  of  retaining  this  associated  factor  during  the 
delay  period  in  any  one  trial.  All  save  the  youngest 
child  learned  the  association  in  one  trial.  With  her 
no  errors  were  made  after  the  seventeenth  trial.  In  the 
delayed  reactions  two  children  who  were  six  years  of 
age  experienced  no  difficulty  until  the  interval  had 
lengthened  to  more  than  four  minutes.  These  two  for- 
mulated their  own  "purpose  to  remember."  The  third 
six-year-old  child  was  told  the  purpose  of  the  experi- 
ments and  had  only  one  error  in  15  trials,  that  on  a  21- 
minute  interval,  although  he  succeeded  on  a  35-minute 
interval.  This  shows  clearly  the  help  given  by  the  for- 
mulation. The  two-and-a-half-year-old  had  great  diffi- 
culty with  even  the  10  second  period,  failing  S0%  of  the 
time  although  she  did  far  better  than  that  on  periods 
as  long  as  50  seconds.  These  failures  on  the  shorter  in- 
tervals probably  represent  her  failures  to  formulate  a 
successful  method  of  remembering. 

The  children  are  reported  as  being  impatient  and 
as  fretting  because  of  the  delay  although  this  unpleas- 
antness was  reduced  and  largely  eliminated  by  the  dis- 
tractions during  the  delay  period.  The  memory  cue  as 
to  which  button  to  press  did  not  seem  to  depend  at  all 
upon  a  distinctive  motor  attitude  but  is  due.  Hunter 
thinks,  to  some  intra-organic  cue  which  does  not  persist, 


60  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

due  to  the  distractions  during  the  delay  period,  but  is 
revived  at  the  moment  of  release.  Whether  this  revived 
cue  is  sensory-perception  or  imaginal  in  content  re- 
mains doubtful. 

This  is  all  that  has  been  done  with  behavior  meth- 
ods in  the  study  of  young  children.  The  results  are 
rather  discouraging  in  a  way  but  are  only  what  might 
be  expected  when  they  are  the  attempts  of  workers 
primarily  interested  in  animal  psychology.  They 
make  rather  good  usage  of  play  and  rewards  but  none 
seems  to  have  been  able  to  regard  the  child  in  a  purely 
objective  way  as  an  animal  with  as  distinctive  charac- 
teristics as  any  other  animal.  Hamilton  uses  food  as 
an  incentive  for  his  animals  but  substitutes  toys  with 
the  infant.  Katz  substitutes  the  still  more  remotely 
affective  stimulus  of  colored  counters.  Yerkes  makes 
a  similar  error  and  all  three  introduce  with  children 
the  additional  factor  of  language.  Hunter's  work  is 
better  in  his  handling  of  the  child  but  it,  too,  depends 
upon  language  development,  while  all  the  methods  are 
cumbersome  and  unwieldy,  and  the  results,  so  far,  are 
vague,  indefinite  and  complex. 

But  a  more  exact  method  of  studjdng  the  less  obvious 
behavior  reactions  of  animals  has  been  developed  by 
another  school.  That  is,  by  the  group  of  Russian 
physiologists  led  by  Pavlov.  Their  methods  and  re- 
sults are  less  easily  accessible  and  hence  less  well  known 
in  this  country.  What  have  they  accomplished  that 
may  be  utilized  in  the  study  of  behavior? 

In  1863  there  appeared  in  the  Russian  tongue  a  work 
entitled  "The  Reflexes  of  the  Cerebrum."  The  author, 
Setchenov,  was  far  in  advance  of  his  time.  He  saw 
psychology  as  a  part  of  physiology,  saw  it  using  the 
methods    of    the   natural   sciences    and    concentrating 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      61 

upon  the  study  of  motor  activity.  Although  his  the- 
ories were  somewhat  crude,  and  not  wholly  in  accord 
with  the  views  of  Hclmholtz  which  were  then  generally 
known  and  accepted,  they  are  most  valuable.  He  for- 
mulated the  theoretical  basis  of  the  Pavlov  method  of 
to-day. 

"The  psychical  processes  of  man,"  he  writes,  "are,  as 
is  known,  recognizable  through  outer  phenomena,  and 
usually  the  laity,  as  well  as  the  naturalist  and  the 
psychologist,  form  an  opinion  of  them  by  that  means. 
Every  one  knows  how  great  the  world  of  these  phe- 
nomena is.  In  this  world  are  included  the  great  variety 
of  movements  and  sounds  of  which  man  is  generally 
capable.  And  this  whole  mass  of  facts  must  be  compre- 
hended as  far  as  possible  and  nothing  left  unconsidered. 
The  problem  at  the  first  glance  seems  insoluble,  but  in 
reality  it  is  not,  and  the  reason  it  is  not  is  as  follows: 
The  whole  endless  multiplicity  of  the  outer  manifesta- 
tions of  cerebral  activity  may  be  reduced  to  a  single 
phenomenon,  that  of  muscular  activity.  Thereby  this 
question  is  considerably  simplified.  In  reality  it  so  hap- 
pens that  a  milliard  phenomena,  which  apparently  have 
no  connection  with  one  another,  may  be  traced  back  to 
the  activity  of  a  single  group  of  muscles.  We  know 
that  under  the  hand  of  the  musician  impassioned  and 
mournful  tones  may  be  charmed  from  the  lifeless  in- 
strument. The  animating  and  creative  hand  of  the  mu- 
sician and  the  sculptor  execute  in  reality  only  a  num- 
ber of  purely  mechanical  movements  which,  critically 
examined,  may  even  be  submitted  to  a  mathematical 
analysis  and  be  expressed  by  a  formula.  How  would 
they  be  able  under  such  conditions  to  impart  the  ex- 
pression of  passionate  feeling  to  tones  and  pictures  if 
it  were  not  a  purely  mechanical  act  ?    There  will  surely 


62  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

come  a  time  when  the  outer  manifestations  of  cerebral 
activity  will  be  subjected  to  analysis  just  as  the  physi- 
cist analyses  musical  accord  or  the  phenomena  which 
are  manifested  by  a  freely  falling  body"  (153,  p.  3).  In 
another  place  he  writes:  "Thought  is  the  first  two- 
thirds  of  a  cerebral  reflex"  (154,  p.  135). 

The  work  of  Setchenov  was  pioneer  but  it  remained 
for  Pavlov  and  his  followers  to  work  out  through  labor- 
ious experiments  the  first  exact  confirmation  of  his 
theories. 

Under  Ivan  P.  Pavlov,  as  Director,  the  work  of  all 
in  the  Physiological  Department  of  the  Institute  of  Ex- 
perimental Medicine  of  St.  Petersburg,  was  for  many 
years  concentrated  on  the  study  of  the  digestive  glands. 
The  first  considerable  announcement  of  the  results  ap- 
peared in  the  year  1897,  in  the  book,  published  b}'^  Pav- 
lov himself,  entitled  "The  Work  of  the  Digestive 
Glands."  An  English  translation  of  this  book  was  not 
made  until  1902.  In  the  preface  of  it  Pavlov  states 
that  the  book  is  "a  joint  work,  the  result  of  the  princi- 
ple, which  actuates  the  whole  laboratory.  It  owes  its 
existence  to  the  acuity  of  each  individual,  but  in  its  to- 
tality to  the  guiding  conception  which  has  inspired  us 
all"  (129,  p.  xi).  With  the  exception  of  several  short, 
reports  this  is  the  only  statement  of  the  work  of  the 
Russian  school  accessible  in  English.  A  brief  resume; 
of  their  problems  and  results  is  therefore  permissible. 

The  subject  matter  has  been  the  physiology  of  the 
digestive  glands.  The  reason  for  taking  up  this  sub- 
ject is,  Pavlov  states,  a  desire  to  replace  the  older,  er- 
roneous views  presented  in  textbooks  by  a  fuller  and 
more  correct  representation  of  the  work  of  these  glands. 
The  earlier  work  was  based  upon  the  secretion  of  the 
salivary  and  gastric  glands,  or  the  salivary  and  gastric; 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      63 

reflexes,  as  they  were  called.  The  method  consisted  in 
the  study  of  the  quantitative  and  qualitative  modifica- 
tions of  the  reflex  which  were  conditioned  by  complex 
receptive  and  elaborative  processes  (psychic  reactions) 
in  the  central  nervous  system.  As  Pavlov  stated, 
"Natural  science  is  under  an  obligation  to  determine 
only  the  precise  connection  which  exists  between  the 
given  natural  phenomena  and  the  responsive  faculty  of 
the  living  organism  with  respect  to  this  phenomenon" 
(128,  pp.  613-614). 

The  technique,  involving,  as  it  does,  delicate  and  ac- 
curate surgical  methods,  is  in  itself  a  triumph  and  too 
well-known  to  need  description.  It  will  suffice  to  recall 
that  from  an  artificial  opening,  drawing  off'  from  its 
natural  function  whatever  secretion  is  being  studied, 
there  extends  a  small  canula  and  tube  by  which  the 
drops  are  either  counted  as  they  fall,  or  are  measured 
by  the  scale  on  a  graduate  into  which  they  fall,  or  else, 
as  Nicolai  finally  developed  the  method,  they  drop  upon 
the  receiving  arm  of  a  Marey  tambour  and  are  re- 
corded upon  a  revolving  drum. 

Along  with  the  study  of  the  diff'erences  in  the  se- 
cretory reflexes  to  various  edible  and  non-edible  sub- 
stances the  discovery  was  made  that  any  phenomenon 
of  the  external  world  which  is  capable  of  impinging 
upon  the  organism  through  any  one  of  the  sense  or- 
gans may  become  the  excitant  of  the  secretory  re- 
flexes ordinarily  functioning  in  response  to  nutritive 
substances  only.  When  the  secretion  is  poured  out  by 
the  glands  as  the  result  of  the  presentation  of  food 
the  reflex  is  said  to  be  a  natural  or  unconditioned  one. 
When,  however,  it  functions  in  reaction  to  auditory 
stimulation  by  an  arbitrary  sound,  or  in  response  to 
a  mechanical  stimulation  of  the  skin  or  to  the  presenta- 


64  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

tion  of  a  colored  light  or  to  any  other  stimulus  not 
usually  accompanying  the  feeding,  then  the  reflex  is 
said  to  be  "artificial"  or  "conditioned."  The  stimulus 
which  is  the  excitant  of  this  conditioned  reflex  is  called 
the  "conditioned"  stimulus. 

The  conditioned  reflex  is  established  as  follows :  At 
the  same  time  that  the  dog  (which  is  the  animal  that 
has  been  generally  used  in  the  Pavlov  laboratory)  is 
given  a  piece  of  meat  or  other  food  that  stimulates  the 
activity  of  the  reflex,  the  stimulus  which  has  been 
picked  to  become  the  associated  excitant  of  the  reflex  is 
also  presented.  This  simultaneous  presentation  of  the 
conditioned  stimulus  and  the  natural  stimulus  (i  e.,  the 
food)  is  repeated  a  number  of  times  until  at  last  the  as- 
sociation has  been  so  well  established  that  the  artificial, 
conditioned  or  unnatural  stimulus,  as  it  is  variously 
called,  will,  when  presented  alone,  excite  the  secretion. 

These  conditioned  reflexes  have  several  pecularities 
which  have  been  verified  by  repeated  experimentations. 
1.  They  are  unstable  or  inconstant.  2.  They  become 
ineff^ective  upon  repetition,  inversely  according  to  the 
time  interval  between  the  successive  excitations  of  the 
reflex  by  use  of  the  conditioned  stimulus.  3.  Oblitera- 
tion of  one  reflex  does  not  aff'ect  the  functioning  of  oth- 
ers. 4.  Spontaneous  reappearance  takes  place  only 
after  one,  two  or  more  hours.  5.  A  conditioned  reflex 
may  be  redeveloped  by  renewed  association  with  the 
unconditioned  reflex  with  which  it  was  first  associated. 

The  work  of  Pavlov  himself  seems  to  be  purely  physi- 
ological and  medical  in  its  interests.  True,  he  speaks 
of,  and  experiments  upon,  the  "psychic  excitation"  of 
the  digestive  secretions,  but  these  so-called  "psychic  ex- 
citations" are  merely  all  those  stimuli  which  work  oth- 
erwise than  by  direct  temperature,  chemical  and  me- 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      65 

chanical  excitations  by  the  food  entering  the  buccal 
cavity.  The  conclusion  of  his  speech  presented  in  the 
Huxley  lectures  on  recent  advances  in  science  and  their 
bearing  on  medicine  and  surgery  shows  this  clearly. 
There  he  says,  "The  investigation  of  the  conditioned 
reflex  is  of  very  great  importance  for  the  physiology 
of  the  higher  parts  of  the  central  nervous  system. 
Hitherto  this  department  of  physiology  has  throughout 
most  of  its  extent  availed  itself  of  ideas  not  its  own, 
ideas  borrowed  from  psychology,  but  now  there  is  a 
possibility  of  its  being  liberated  from  such  evil  influ- 
ences. The  conditioned  reflexes  lead  us  to  the  consid- 
eration of  the  position  of  animals  in  nature;  this  is  a 
subject  of  immense  extent  and  one  that  must  be  treated 
objectively"  (128,  p.  618).  He  ends  with  the  predic- 
tion that  these  facts  will  throw  light  upon  the  "highest 
and  most  complicated  portion  of  the  animal  mechan- 
ism" (128,  p.  619). 

This  method  has  been  very  widely  used  on  dogs  but  as 
its  application  involves  the  formation  of  a  fistula  for 
the  study  of  almost  any  of  the  secretions  it  was  thought 
to  be  inapplicable  in  the  study  of  human  beings.  Modi- 
fications of  method  have  arisen  which  are  more  promis- 
ing. Kalischer  (88,  89)  trained  dogs  to  eat  when  he 
presented  certain  tones,  and  to  refrain  from  eating 
when  all  others  were  presented  simply  by  associating 
tlie  feeding  with  one  tone  only  and  found  the  dogs 
made  no  attempt  to  get  the  food  he  held  in  his  hand  un- 
less the  correct  tone  had  been  sounded.  Similar  meth- 
ods might  be  used  with  young  children. 

To  Bechterew  (10)  we  owe,  however,  a  more  radical 
and  valuable  modification.  The  work  of  Pavlov  though 
fundamental  for  the  development  of  the  theory  of  men- 
tal activity  as  reflex  in  its  nature  is  too  narrow  in  its 


66  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

application  to  function  as  the  basis  of  all  psychology. 
Bechtercw  approaches  the  same  subject  from  the  psy- 
chological rather  than  the  physiological  viewpoint  and 
hence  applies  his  experimental  data  in  that  field.  While 
Pavlov's  work  centers  about  the  secretory  reflexes, 
Bechterew  studies  the  motor  reflex.  One  method  of 
studying  it  is  as  follows.  The  reflex  movement  of  the 
withdrawal  of  the  foot  from  metal  electrodes  through 
electrical  stimulation  is  accompanied  by  the  presenta- 
tion of  some  other  stimulus  such  as  the  flash  of  an 
electric  light  bulb,  the  ringing  of  a  bell  or  the  appear- 
ance of  a  colored  form  before  the  subject.  After  a  cer- 
tain number  of  trials  the  presentation  of  the  arbitrarily 
chosen  stimulus  without  the  accompaniment  of  electri- 
cal stimulation  will  suffice  to  cause  the  raising  of  the 
foot.  Voluntary  movements  are  also  used  under  various 
controlled  conditions. 

To  Bechterew  all  activity  is  reflex  activity  or  re- 
sponse to  stimuli  external  to  the  organ  or  group  of  mus- 
cles reacting.  He  writes  that  he  has  observed  in  detail 
the  development  of  reflexes  in  his  five  children  through- 
out their  earliest  childhood  but  he  gives  us  no  state- 
ment of  results  other  than  a  general  theorizing  regard- 
ing movements  and  language  development  as  condi- 
tioned reflexes. 

In  this  country  Watson  (185)  has  attempted  an  ap- 
plication of  this  method  to  human  beings  using  Bech- 
terew's  method  of  electrical  shock  but  substituting  in 
his  later  work  the  movement  of  the  fingers  for  foot 
and  toe  movements.  The  study  is  interesting  to  us  be- 
cause of  its  use  upon  one  child,  an  eight-year-old  boy. 
The  experiment  is  reported  as  follows:  "Whether  the 
method  can  be  used  widely  with  children  has  not  been 
determined.     In  the  course  of  twenty  minutes  we  ob- 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      67 

taincd  the  reflex  several  times  upon  an  eight-year-old 
boy.  When  first  punished  he  cried  and  showed  some 
reluctancy  towards  having  the  experiment  continue. 
One  of  the  experimenters  then  sat  in  the  room  with  him, 
and,  under  promise  of  a  moving  picture  show  after  the 
experiment,  the  series  was  completed  with  smiling  forti- 
tude" (p.  102). 

This  simple  report  of  what  happened  shows  very 
significantly  that  the  punishment  method  is  apt  to  put 
the  child  into  an  unfavorable  frame  of  mind  and  re- 
sults obtained  upon  him  will  consequently  not  be  com- 
parable with  those  obtained  from  adults  who  under- 
stand the  aim  of  scientific  experiments.  With  younger 
children  it  is  also  highly  improbable  that  the  promise  of 
some  reward  would  carry  them  through  the  necessary 
number  of  trials  and  the  mothers  themselves  would 
probabl}'  object. 

One  point  is  exemplified  that  can  not  be  too  em- 
phatically stressed,  no  matter  what  method  of  study- 
ing the  child  is  used.  That  is  the  need  of  getting  en 
rapport  with  the  child,  of  understanding  him  and  know- 
ing what  will  appeal  to  him  and  keep  him  interested  in 
the  experiment.  The  adult  can  be  verbally  directed 
towards  the  task  that  is  set  him  in  the  experiment  and 
by  his  acceptance  of  the  direction  is  attitudinized  to- 
wards the  work  expected  of  him  and  the  value  of  the 
results  for  science  will  be  sufficient  as  a  goal  idea.  But 
the  child  wants  immediate  reward  and  also  does  not 
want  to  devote  any  of  his  time  to  things  that  are  not 
innately  attractive.  He  must  be  ruled  by  interest,  not 
by  forced  attention. 

Watson  points  out  the  application  of  this  method 
in  the  study  of  sense  perception,  acuity  and  discrimina- 
tion in  all  senses,  memory  and  the  so-called  association 


68  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

reaction  work,  also  in  determining  sensory  Integrity  in 
those  who  for  some  reason  or  other  do  not  speak. 

The  application  to  the  study  of  learning  cannot  come 
by  this  method  unless  it  is  modified.  He  gives  five  ex- 
periences with  the  shock  and  the  other  stimulus  work- 
ing together,  then  tries  the  conditioning  stimulus  alone. 
If  it  does  not  cause  the  reflex  to  function,  he  gives  five 
more  simultaneous  stimulations  before  he  tries  it  again. 
By  this  method  he  knows  only  that  the  conditioned  re- 
flex has  established  Itself  somewhere  in  the  series  of  five, 
while  a  trial  of  the  functioning  ability  after  each  pun- 
ishment stimulus  would  give  the  exact  point  of  develop- 
ment. 

Another  line  of  investigation  using  the  Pavlov 
method  of  secretions  was  begun  by  BIckel  and  Bogen. 
Bickel  had  the  opportunity  to  observe  a  23-year-old 
girl  with  a  fistula  of  the  esophagus  and  stomach  and 
found  that,  just  as  in  the  Pavlov  dogs,  "The  different 
stimuli,  which  touch  the  taste  or  smell  organ,  suffice 
to  cause  a  secretion  or  increase  a  secretion  already  in 
flow"  (12,  p,  591).  He  did  not,  it  seems,  attempt 
any  serious  experiments  in  an  effort  to  develop  condi- 
tioned reflexes. 

Bogen  (17)  was  familiar  with  some  of  the  earlier 
reports  of  BIckel  and  consequently  when  a  similar  case 
presented  Itself  in  the  Children's  Clinic  at  the  Univers- 
ity of  Heidelberg  he  studied  it  not  only  for  the  reflex 
secretion  to  natural  stimuli  but  for  the  artificial  or  con- 
ditioned reflexes. 

The  case  was  a  boy  three  and  a  half  years  old  whey 
had  drunk  some  lye  and  gradually  developed  complete 
stegnosis  of  the  esophagus  so  that  finally  a  stomachi 
fistula  was  made  and  used  for  feeding  while  curative 
measures  were  attempted.     The  expeinments  w^ere  cas- 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      69 

ried  out  while  the  child  was  in  the  hospital. 

The  child  was  laid  on  his  stomach  on  two  out- 
stretched towels  which  did  not  meet  but  allowed  the 
canula  to  pass  between.  The  child  could  not  see  what 
was  going  on  in  the  room.  Then  he  was  fed  milk  or 
meat  and  the  gastric  justice  would  begin  flowing  al- 
though the  food  was  regurgitated  as  it  could  not  reach 
the  stomach.  "After  about  6  such  experiments  had 
been  made  it  also  happened  that  the  sight  of  the  meat 
as  well  as  of  the  milk  called  forth  a  psychic  secretion  of 
gastric  juice"  (p.  736).  Then  the  associative  experi- 
ment was  used.  "The  child  was  fed  a  long  time — in  all 
over  40  times — with  meat,  while  simultaneously  a  cer- 
tain tone  was  blown  upon  a  small  trumpet" 
Other  combinations  were  also  used,  the  showing  of  food 
and  blowing  the  trumpet,  etc.  and  "all  these  experiments 
gave  positive  results"  (p.  737).  Finally  in  ten  trials 
of  the  blowing  of  the  trumpet  seven  were  followed  by 
secretion  and  only  three  were  negative.  Anger  and 
pain  delayed  the  secretion,  the  period  of  latency  for 
meat  was  four  and  three-quarters  minutes,  for  milk, 
nine  minutes,  and  the  secretion  decreased  as  the  in- 
tensity of  stimuli  decreased. 

So  far  we  see  little  indication  of  a  method  which  can 
be  easily  applied  to  the  normal  child  of  any  age  inde- 
pendent of  his  ability  to  speak  or  understand  the  spok- 
en word,  or  readily  adapted  for  the  study  of  many 
processes,  one  that  does  not  force  the  child  into  an  un- 
pleasant situation  but  that  invites  his  cooperation 
through  arousing  his  interest  and  which  nevertheless 
is  thoroughly  in  accord  with  scientific  theories  and  is 
able  to  evoke  through  its  use  data  scientifically  valu- 
able. 

From  the  work  of  Pavlov,  Bechterew,  and  KostylefF 


70  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

(97)  who  has  given  the  theoretical  application  of  the 
idea  of  the  conditioned  reflex  its  highest  development; 
from  the  work  of  Verworn  (179),  Sherrington  (155) 
and  Loeb  (105),  and  from  the  work  of  the  behavior 
psychologists  already  mentioned  we  have,  however, 
evolved  a  theory  of  the  child  which  we  can  use  to  de- 
velop the  working  rules  for  the  scientific  study  of  him. 

The  child,  becoming  at  birth  independent  in  his  ex- 
istence, is  an  irritable  organism  with  a  potentiality  for 
many  diverse  forms  of  activity.  This  irritability  is  at 
first  not  highly  specific  but  practically  any  stimulus 
calls  forth  a  diffuse  reaction.  Witliin  the  organism, 
however,  certain  reactions  have  already  been  deter- 
mined in  a  very  specific  manner  by  the  completed  de- 
velopment of  the  neural  paths  subserving  those  reac- 
tions. These  are  the  first  instincts.  Gradually  spe- 
cific neural  paths  or  neural  habits  of  reaction  develop 
for  many  more  and  far  more  varied  stimuli.  These  re- 
actions are  instinctive  if  they  are  independent  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  individual  previous  to  their  functioning, 
habits  if  they  are  dependent  upon  his  earlier  experience. 

Any  stimulus  in  the  environment  of  the  individual 
may  become  the  excitant  of  a  reaction  which  may  be- 
come habitual.  The  type  of  reaction  which  any  one 
stimulus  may  excite  is  not  specific  but  is  of  an  excess- 
ively varied  potentiality.  Any  reaction  of  the  child  at 
any  time  is  dependent  not  only  upon  his  environment  at 
that  time  but  also  upon  the  sum  total  of  his  earlier  ex- 
periences and  likewise  not  independent  of  his  effectively 
inherited  predispositions,  that  is  the  specific  tendencies 
or  incapacities  of  his  organism. 

The  complexity  of  the  conditions  is  increased  by  the 
fact  that  the  child  is  a  growing  organism.  Habits  are 
formed,  specific  reactions  developed,  not  only  because 


BEHAVIORISM  AND  CHILD  PSYCHOLOGY      71 

of  the  plastic  receptivity  of  his  organism  but  all  activ- 
ity and  functioning  is  favored  by  the  very  nature  of 
the  child  himself.  His  fundamental  necessity  is  growth. 
The  great  strides  which  the  most  casual  observer  notes 
in  the  young  child  are  the  result  of  simultaneity  of 
growth  in  structure  and  growth  in  function  which  we 
call  adaptation  or  learning. 

From  this  we  may  formulate  the  theorems  basal  for  a 
scientific  method  of  studying  child  behavior. 

1.  The  child  is  a  responsive  organism. 

2.  Response  may  be  structural  and  so  involves 
growth. 

3.  The  study  of  structural  responses,  as  a  type  of 
adaptation  and  learning,  is  the  necessary  concomitant 
of  the  study  of  neural  response.  The  two  are  not  an- 
tagonistic. The  presence  of  one  does  not,  as  has  often 
been  claimed,  impede  the  study  of  the  other.  They  are 
necessary  correlates  and  their  correlated  presence  dis- 
tinguishes the  study  of  the  child  from  the  study  of  the 
adult  which  is  largely  one  of  interest  in  function. 

4.  All  neural  response  is  of  the  reflex  type,  that  is, 
direct  response  to  a  stimulus  or  group  of  stimuli. 

5.  The  neural  response  is  never  arbitrary  but  al- 
ways motivated  by  a  definite  stimulus  although  for  any 
one  stimulus  the  response  may  vary  greatly,  and,  vice 
versa,  any  one  response  may  at  different  times  be 
caused  by  widely  different  stimuli. 

6.  The  child  responds  to  all  in  his  environment  for 
which  sense  specificity  has  developed  but  primarily  to 
the  most  effectively  sensed  stimuli. 

7.  Any  stimulus  quality  in  the  external  world  may 
be  brought  into  causal  or  inhibitory  relation  with  any 
reaction  or  group  of  reactions  of  the  functioning  or- 
ganism and  probably  none  is  without  structural  effect. 


72  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

The  next  question  is  as  to  the  methods  by  which 
this  theory  may  be  applied  to  the  study  of  the  young 
child.  Baldwin  in  his  dynamogenic  method  comes  very 
near  giving  one  solution,  while  Warner's  work  on  hand 
movements  approaches  a  similar  and  more  exact  solu- 
tion of  the  same  thing.  But  neither  of  these  men  had 
the  apperceptive  background  of  method  and  knowledge 
of  the  conditioned  reflex  which  in  Krasnogorski  led  in- 
evitably to  its  application  to  the  study  of  children.  His 
work  far  exceeds  in  suggestiveness  anything  preceding 
it,  although  it  should  be  mentioned  that  the  work  of 
Bickel  and  Bogen  seems  to  have  been  an  incentive  to 
him.  His  method  and  its  application  are,  however,  his 
own. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE   EXPERIMENTS   OF   KRASNOGORSKI 

THE  first  definite  application  of  the  Pavlov  method 
to  normal  children  was  made  by  Krasnogorski. 

In  1907,  in  the  Russki  Wratsch  (98),  he  presented 
the  results  of  a  study  of  conditioned  reflexes  as  devel- 
oped in  sucklings.  Using  one  fourteen-month-old  baby, 
he  studied  the  cortical  activity  as  indicated  by  salivary 
secretion.  He  had  the  child  in  a  room  by  itself,  lying 
on  a  table,  no  noise  or  other  changing  factor  being  al- 
lowed to  disturb  the  conditions,  and  even  the  movements 
of  the  experimenter  being  kept  as  constant  as  possible. 

After  a  few  trials  in  which  the  child  was  excited  by 
the  sight  of  food  (milk  in  a  glass)  held  at  a  distance 
there  was  an  increasing  frequency  of  swallowing  move- 
ments and  also  a  motor  reaction  of  mouthing  and  suck- 
ing. Krasnogorski  felt  that  this  presented  such  a  spe- 
cific picture  that  it  might  well  be  used  to  study  the  con- 
ditioned reflexes  in  normal  cases  where  there  was  no 
salivary  fistula  by  means  of  which  the  salivary  secretion 
could  be  studied. 

In  children  even  the  most  unimportant  salivary  se- 
cretion, of  even  0.5  of  a  square  centimeter,  induces  the 
act  of  swallowing  and  by  the  number  of  swallowings  in 
a  given  time  one  can  judge  the  force  of  secretion.  In 
this  instance  the  child  studied  had  been  fed  and  had 
then  enjoyed  a  short  rest  before  being  brought  under 
the  experimental  conditions. 

73 


74  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

A  glass  with  milk  in  it  was  shown  with  the  following 
results : 

Record  of  Number  of  Swai^lows  in  Three  Minutes 

First  Second  Third 

Observation    Observation    Observation 

Before  13  3 

stimu-  3  3  2 

lation  0  2  8 

2  13 

Excited  by  food   9  16  10 

When  the  auditory  stimulus  of  a  ringing  bell  was 
used  the  following  results  were  obtained  in  a  3-  to  5- 
minute  interval  after  the  ringing  of  the  bell,  "after  a 
certain  number  of  trials"  (he  does  not  state  the  num- 
ber). 

Record  of  Number  of  Swallows  in  Three  to  Five 
Minutes 


First 

Second 

Third 

Observation 

Observation 

Observation 

3 

3 

5 

Before 

4 

excita- 

2 

3 

4i 

tion 

2 

0 

2 

4 

During 

stimulation 

6 

8 

8 

From  these  observations  Krasnogorski  concludes: 
The  amount  of  secretion  in  response  to  the  auditory 

stimulation  is  in  quantitative  relation  to  the  amount 

secreted  during  the  foreperiod. 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI  75 

If  the  unconditioned  stimulus  used  is  one  producing 
a  relatively  great  amount  of  saliva  then  the  amount  ob- 
tained from  excitation  by  a  conditioned  stimulus  built 
up  upon  this  basis  is  correspondingly  great  as  meas- 
ured by  the  increasing  frequency  of  swallowing. 

If  the  child  cries  when  he  sees  food  and  does  not  get 
it  this  interferes  with  the  conditioned  reflex,  having  an 
unfavorable  influence  upon  it,  and  the  experiment  can 
be  resumed  with  favorable  results,  only  when  the  child 
again  becomes  quiet. 

Later  Krasnogorski  modified  and  perfected  his  pro- 
cedure considerably.  A  first  full  report  of  the  find- 
ings with  these  improved  methods  was  made  by  him  in 
1908  at  the  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Children's  Physi- 
cians in  Petrograd. 

He  had  been  studying  the  secretion  of  saliva  by 
counting  the  number  of  swallowing  movements  which, 
being  dependent  upon  the  secretion  itself,  might  natur- 
ally be  expected  to  vary  with  it  in  intensity  and  dura- 
tion. But  there  intervened  a  period  between  the  first 
stimulation  by  a  food  quality  and  this  movement,  a 
period  in  which  saliva  was  being  secreted  but  had  not 
yet  accumulated  in  sufficient  quantity  to  stimulate  the 
swallowing  reflexes.  Other  movements  were  present  and 
noticeable,  however. 

These  were  movements  of  mouth  opening  as  prepara- 
tion for  food  reception.  Accordingly  he  changed  his 
observation  to  a  record  of  the  combined  movements  of 
mouth  opening  and  swallowing.  These  were  recorded 
by  the  simple  arrangement  of  the  receptive  plate  of  a 
Marey  tambour  placed  over  the  thyroid  cartilage  or  the 
hyoid  bone,  connected  by  a  rubber  tubing  with  a  re- 
cording arm  which  traced  each  movement  upon  a  ky- 
mograph. 


76  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

The  child,  with  recorder  in  position,  was  "placed  in 
absolute  quietness  upon  a  table  in  an  isolated  room. 
The  eyes  of  the  child  were  bandaged  to  avoid  visual 
stimuli,  if  the  conditioned  reflexes  were  developed  from 
various  other  receptive  sensory  surfaces"  (99,  p.  10). 
Taking  first  a  control  record  of  a  quiescent  state  he 
next  stimulated  the  child  by  feeding  chocolate  or  honey. 
In  the  curves  recording  this  feeding  the  initial  devia- 
tion marking  mouth  opening  may  be  easily  differenti- 
ated from  the  swallowing  records  following.  Such  a 
"natural"  or  unconditioned  reflex  is  too  complex  to  al- 
low of  satisfactory  analysis,  consequently  the  eff*ort 
was  made  to  establish  "conditioned"  or  "artificially  de- 
veloped" reflexes. 

Three  children  were  used,  one  three  years  old  and 
two  six  years  old.  First  the  conditioned  reflex  was  es- 
tablished in  the  3-year-old  by  the  ringing  of  an  electric 
bell  for  one  minute,  every  third  minute  with  the  ac- 
companying feeding  of  one-half  teaspoonful  of  honey 
fifteen  seconds  after  the  ringing  started.  This  was  re- 
peated until  the  ringing  of  the  bell  was  sufficient  to 
cause  the  feeding  movements.  The  association  lasted 
and  functioned  two  weeks  after  its  last  developmental 
functioning.  The  same  conditioned  reflex  was  devel- 
oped in  one  6-year-old  and  the  "reaction  after  24  hours 
was  weaker  than  a  second  reaction  25  minutes  later" 
(99,  p.  13). 

In  both  6-year-olds  the  reflex  was  developed  to  the 
sounding  of  a  tone  on  the  reed  pipe.  Chocolate  was 
given  10  minutes  after  the  beginning  of  the  sound.  Al- 
though the  note  gave  the  reflex  action  yet  similar  re- 
action occurred  to  other  tones.  Seemingly,  tonal  dis- 
crimination is  not  as  well  developed  in  the  child  at 
six  as  Seleni  and  others  find  it  to  be  in  the  dog.     Nor 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI   77 

did  re-enforcement  of  only  the  response  to  the  correct 
tone  by  chocolate  feeding  seem  propaedeutic  of  in- 
creased tonal  discrimination. 

Krasnogorski  also  used  cutaneous  stimulation, 
scratching  a  place  on  the  skin  lightly  with  a  camel's 
hair  brush  for  one  minute  and,  after  15  seconds  of  the 
mechanical  irritation,  associatively  feeding  chocolate. 
This  stimulus  soon  became  an  adequate  excitant  of  the 
feeding  reflexes.  But  in  the  6-year-oids  the  stimulus 
was  not  spatially  specific,  the  same  response  in  the  re- 
flex followed  scratching  upon  the  foot  as  had  been  de- 
veloped to  scratcliing  of  the  arm  above  the  elbow. 
Spatial  specificity  of  excitation  of  reflex  was  secured  in 
the  6-year-olds,  however,  by  alternating  stimulation  of 
the  particular  spot  first  used  and  feeding,  with  stimula- 
tion of  other  portions  of  the  body  without  feeding.  In 
the  3-year-old  child  the  stimulation  had  a  specific  and 
local  value  from  the  first. 

The  question  of  the  decadence  or  unlearning  of  the 
conditioned  reflex  next  occupied  Krasnogorski's  at- 
tention. A  6-year-old  was  put  in  a  quiet  position  and 
the  child  stimulated  by  sight  of  food  held  before  him 
without  his  being  fed.  This  was  continued  30  seconds. 
After  5  minutes  a  second  stimulation  was  similarly  con- 
ducted, a  third,  and  then  on  the  fourth  no  reaction 
occurred.  Then  the  child  was  given  some  honey  and  the 
reaction  immediately  reappeared. 

With  the  other  6-year-old,  where  a  conditioned  reflex 
had  been  developed  to  the  ringing  of  an  electric  bell 
every  10  minutes  for  30  seconds,  the  disappearance 
took  place  gradually  being  completed  in  five  trials. 
When  the  pauses  between  stimulations  in  this  same  child 
were  only  5  minutes  the  inhibition  occurred  after  three 
trials.    The  reflex  was  renewed  by  one  associative  func- 


78  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

tioning  of  conditioned  stimulus  and  feeding. 

The  breaking  down  of  the  reflex  as  conditioned  by 
mechanical  stimulation  occurs  with  a  6-year-old  child 
after  3  trials,  being  absent  on  the  fourth  and  fifth 
trials. 

A  second  series  of  experiments  was  carried  out  in 
which  the  working  of  the  feeding,  or  natural  stimulus, 
and  the  artificial  stimulus  instead  of  being  simultaneous 
were  successive.  Mechanical  stimulation  was  used,  for 
example,  and  after  its  application  for  30  seconds  there 
was  a  pause  of  10  seconds  and  then  the  child  was  fed 
in  the  11th  second.  After  16  such  associated  func- 
tionings  the  scratchings  acted  as  a  conditioning  factor 
in  the  17th  trial.  This  reaction  occurred  during  the 
early  part  of  the  scratching  period,  but  during  sub- 
sequent repetitions  it  appeared  more  and  more  slowly 
until  it  was  present  only  after  the  cessation  of  the 
scratching.  The  child  was  lively  and  very  exceptional 
in  endowment  and  attempts  to  break  down  the  condi- 
tioned reflex  were  very  slow  in  taking  eff^ect.  It  took 
eleven  functionings  without  feeding  before,  on  the 
twelfth  stimulation,  we  find  a  complete  dissolution  of  the 
reaction.  In  disappearing  the  reflex  maintained  the 
temporal  position  developed  earlier  of  functioning  after 
the  period  of  stimulation. 

Krasnogorski  did  not  in  this  study  ascertain  the 
value  of  reflexes  during  sleep  or  relative  values  at  dif- 
ferent ages  although  he  states  that  in  decadence  the  re- 
flexes are  "diff'erent  in  different  children"  (99,  p.  24). 

In  1913  Krasnogorski  presented  a  second  report  of 
his  work  at  the  International  Medical  Congress  held  in 
London.  Evidently,  in  spite  of  the  brevity  of  his  re- 
port, the  results  he  has  achieved  are  conclusive  to  him 
for  he  says,  "Each  phenomenon  of  the  external  world, 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI   79 

which  is  received  by  the  peripheral  systems  of  the  child, 
can  be  brought  into  a  temporary  association  with  a 
motor,  that  is  a  secretory,  act.  All  possible  stimuli  of 
sight,  hearing  and  skin  can  be  metamorphosed  into  spe- 
cific excitants  and  call  forth  a  definite  motor  act  if  their 
effect  as  stimuli  is  temporally  associated  with  the  motor 
act  several  times"  (100,  p.  376). 

Without  giving  detailed  results  (or  in  fact  any  spe- 
cific data)  he  states  that  in  normal  children  2-10  trials 
is  sufficient  to  establish  an  associative  functioning ;  that 
the  conditioned  reflexes  so  established  are  of  "high 
stability"  and  "easy  inhibition,"  but  that  there  is  a  wide 
range  of  innate  individual  variation  and  he  also  inti- 
mates, but  does  not  actually  state,  a  difference  due  to 
chronological  age,  for  he  writes :  "In  normal  infants  the 
cortical  innervations  are  so  little  developed  in  the  first 
two  or  three  months  of  life  that  the  conditioned  asso- 
ciations usually  can  not  be  developed.  But  as  early  as 
the  second  half  of  the  first  year  of  life  the  development 
of  temporary  associations  from  all  receptive  surfaces 
(eyes,  ears,  nose,  skin)  is  indeed  possible,  but  occurs 
more  slowly  than  is  the  case  in  later  life.  Only  in  the 
course  of  the  second  year  of  life  does  the  mechanism  of 
the  conditioned  reflexes  reach  its  full  development  and 
functional  perfection"  (100,  p.  376-377). 

Moreover  Krasnogorski  asserts  that  all  sorts  of 
pathological  states  cause  changes  in  the  activity  of  the 
conditioned  reflexes ;  fever  periods  reduce  activity,  while 
"In  many  cases  of  idiocy,  in  neuro-psychopathic  chil- 
dren, in  cases  of  organic  lesions  of  the  cortex  the  de- 
velopment of  the  temporary  association  is  either  entire- 
ly impossible  or  else  very  much  more  difficult"  (100, 
p.  377). 

The  dissolution  of  these  conditioned  reflexes  is  also 


80  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

very  interesting  and  exceedingly  valuable  Krasnogorski 
believes.  In  neuropathic  children  this  process  is  un- 
usually difficult.  He  gives  as  an  example  the  case  of 
a  five-year-old  boy  where  the  conditioned  reflex  in  re- 
sponse to  cutaneous  stimulation  developed  "propor- 
tionately easily"  and  where  thirty-one  repetitions  of 
the  conditioning  stimulus  without  accompanying  feed- 
ing were  necessary  before  the  dissociation  was  effected. 

The  memory-conditioned  reflexes  are  also  more  fuUy 
treated  in  this  report.  Unlike  the  memory  conditioned 
reflex  of  the  dog  which  lacks  specificity  and  disappears 
easily  "high  specificity  and  extraordinary  precision 
are  usual  characteristics  of  this  group  of  the  reflexes 
in  human  beings  .  .  .  the  memory  reflex  is  formed 
just  as  easily  as  the  usual  contemporary  associations. 
It  is  sufficient  to  cause  the  memorial  eff*ect  of  some  sort 
of  a  stimulus  to  occur  together  with  the  opening  of  the 
mouth  only  SO-30  times  in  order  for  these  memory 
traces  to  become  adequate  excitants"  (100,  p.  379). 
As  this  memory  reflex  develops  at  a  later  age,  shows 
lessened  specificity  in  many  neuropathic  children,  and 
is  more  difficult  to  develop  in  imbeciles  and  morons  its 
clinical  significance  is  great. 

The  next  mechanism  which  Krasnogorski  has  investi- 
gated is  that  of  the  analysers.  Analysers,  according  to 
the  Pavlov  and  Krasnogorski  terminology  are  "those 
neural  apparatus  which  analyze  and  resolve  the  stimuli 
of  the  external  world  into  the  minutest  parts  in  order 
to  build  up  from  these  fractional  bits  new  combina- 
tions which  represent  the  regular  projection  of  these  or 
those  external  phenomena"  (100,  p.  380).  Dogs  have 
the  auditory  analyser  perfected  to  the  discrimination 
of  differences  of  an  eighth  of  a  tone  while  with  children 
it  is  very  poorly  developed,  but  with  them  the  visual  an- 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI      81 

alyser  is  much  more  highly  developed  than  with  the  dog. 
Red  and  white  lights  are  discriminated  by  5-  to  6- 
months-old  normal  infants,  odors  are  differentiated 
without  great  difficulty  at  the  age  of  7  to  8  months 
while  the  skin  analyser  is  well  developed  towards  the 
end  of  the  first  year.  The  movement  analyser  or  motor 
zone  is  very  poorly  dcA^eloped  during  the  first  year, 
but  reaches  its  full  development  in  the  course  of  the 
second  year  of  life. 

Analysing  ability  is  greatly  decreased  in  idiot  and 
imbecile  children,  may  be  disturbed  temporarily  or  per- 
manently in  neuropathic  conditions,  appearing  less 
readily  and  fluctuating  more  easily.  A  most  marked 
example  of  disturbance  of  the  motor  analyser  is  to  be 
found  in  the  hysterical  paralyses. 

"The  clinical  investigation  of  the  ability  of  the  an- 
alysers to  differentiate  as  made  by  means  of  the  condi- 
tioned motor  reflexes  appears  to  be  the  sole  objective 
clinical  method  which  permits  the  determination  of  the 
analyser  activity  of  a  definite  portion  of  the  cortex 
as  well  as  the  discrimination  of  pathological  processes. 

Each  neural  process  consists,  as  is  known,  of  the 
phenomena  of  stimulation  and  of  innervation — they 
are  in  a  manner  two  halves  of  one  and  the  same  activity 
of  the  nervous  system.  The  normal  course  of  these 
nerve  processes  depends  upon  the  balancing,  upon  the 
equal  force,  of  these  two  forms  of  energy.  Consequently 
it  is  comprehensible  what  unusual  significance  apper- 
tains to  the  mechanism  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  cor- 
tical innervations"  (100,  p.  384-385). 

The  method  of  conditioned  reflexes,  because  of  the 
delicate  fluctuations  in  the  reflex  due  to  changes  in  the 
organism  gives  us  an  excellent  measure  of  the  interplay 
of  reactions,  of  inhibition,  and  discharge  in  any  one  cor- 


82  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

tical  center.  At  first  the  stimulus  of  any  one  sense  ex- 
cites the  whole  cortical  area  of  that  sense  and  all  such 
stimulation  is  followed  by  the  associated  reflexes  of 
feeding.  But  as  only  one  part  of  that  sense  organ  is 
stimulated  in  association  with  the  natural  conditioning 
of  feeding  gradually  the  rest  of  that  group  of  cortical 
analysers  develops  an  inhibitory  condition  and  only 
the  selected  and  specific  stimulation  arouses  the  reflex. 
This  specificity  of  reaction  is  rapidly  lost  and  is  very 
unstable.  "One  must  assume,"  writes  Krasnogorski, 
"that  the  whole  cortex  is  filled  with  such  conditioned 
centers,  which  quicMy  arise,  quickly  disappear,  quickly 
develop  vn  size,  soon  grow  smaller  and  are  always  hound 
up  with  this  or  that  system  of  the  cortex  according  to 
the  conditions  of  their  arousal"  (100,  p.  388). 

The  formation  of  this  specific  conditioned  reflex  in 
animals  passes  through  three  stages.  First  the  at- 
tempted inhibition  brings  accompanying  inhibition  of 
the  desired  reaction  also,  then  "stimulation  of  the  inac- 
tive part  induces  a  reflex  but  its  disappearance  is  not 
followed  by  the  disappearance  of  the  reflex  from  the  ac- 
tive part;  in  the  third  phase  .  .  .  the  phase  of 
absolute  differentiation,  the  inactive  stimulation  excites 
neither  secretory  nor  motor  reaction  any  longer,  al- 
though the  stimulation  of  the  active  part  shows  its  max- 
imum result"  (100,  p.  388).  In  children,  however, 
Krasnogorski  finds  the  first  two  phases  little  differenti- 
ated and  absolute  differentiation  rapidly  develops  ex- 
cept in  very  young  infants  and  in  neuropaths  where  the 
second  phase  is  almost  always  clearly  lengthened.  In 
idiocy,  imbecility  and  myxoedema  "the  formation  of 
conditioned  centers  takes  place  with  unusual  difficulty" 
(100,  p.  388)  while  in  excitable  neuropathy  "the  stabil- 
ity of  the  conditioned  centers  appears  greatly  reduced" 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI   83 

(100,  p.  388).  The  "inner  inhibition"  is  more  inert 
in  young  children  and  only  reaches  its  functional  ma- 
turity in  children  between  three  and  four  years  of 
age. 

Another  mechanism  discovered  by  Pavlov's  labora- 
tory and  used  by  Krasnogorski  is  that  designated  as  a 
"conditioned  inhibition."  By  associating  any  stimulus 
with  the  working  of  a  previously  established  conditioned 
reflex,  without  accompanying  feeding,  the  new  stimulus 
becomes  in  a  short  time  the  adequate  stimulus  for  inhi- 
bition of  the  action  of  the  conditioned  reflex  which  it 
accompanied  but  this  conditioned  reflex  functions  as 
usual  when  the  inhibiting  stimulus  is  not  applied. 

This  inhibition  Krasnogorski  finds  develops  in  nor- 
mal children  in  from  five  to  ten  trials.  It  then  has  a 
strong  inhibitory  eff^ect,  breaks  down  easily  and  disap- 
pears slowly  if  left  to  time.  In  gross  pathological 
cases,  however,  the  inhibition  develops  more  slowly,  is 
less  eff^ective  and  disappears  very  quickly.  In  neuro- 
pathic children  the  inhibition  behaves  diff^erently  ac- 
cording to  the  type.  The  excitable  neuropath  develops 
the  inhibition  easily,  but  it  breaks  down  easily  and  dis- 
appears rapidly  under  lapse  of  time.  In  the  phlegmatic 
child  it  develops  slowly  and  only  in  response  to  rela- 
tively strong  stimuli  and  it  may,  although  not  always, 
last  a  considerable  period. 

The  most  complex  mechanism  evolved  by  Krasno- 
gorski is  that  of  "loading  and  discharge."  A  condi- 
tioned reflex  is  developed  in  response  to  a  stimulus 
through  any  sense  organ  and  any  chance  development 
of  a  conditioned  reflex  in  response  to  stimulation  of 
some  other  sense  is  broken  down  by  the  repetition  of  the 
stimulation  without  feeding.  Then  the  conditioning 
stimulus  is  given  and  no  feeding  but  a  presentation  of 


84  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

the  non-conditioning  stimulus  follows  and  the  feeding 
follows  it.  Then  the  non-conditioning  stimulus  is  given 
again  without  accompanying  feeding.  Thus  the  reflex 
develops  in  sequential  order  as  response  to  the  first 
stimulus,  formerly  indiff"erent,  after  the  conditioning 
stimulus.  Krasnogorski  used  ringing  a  bell  one-half 
minute,  then  3  minutes  later  stimulating  the  skin.  "In 
this  case,"  he  writes,  "the  skin  stimulation  appears,  so 
to  speak,  as  the  trigger  of  the  charge  weapon.  We 
load  the  neural  mechanism  with  the  stimulation  by  the 
ringing  of  the  bell,  this  lading  remains  in  the  cortex  and 
can  be  discharged  at  a  favorable  moment,  if  we  set  in 
motion  our  depressing  mechanism — the  skin  stimula- 
tion" (100,  p.  391-392). 

In  view  of  the  clinical  significance  which  Krasnogor- 
ski claims  for  this  mechanism  it  is  worth  while  to  give 
here  his  physiological  explanation  of  it.  "The  ele- 
ments of  the  hearing  analyser  were  brought  into  a  co- 
temporal  association  with  the  motor  cells.  Then  we 
changed  the  conditions  of  our  experiments  in  that  we 
did  not  let  the  unconditioned  stimulus  (the  giving  of 
chocolate)  occur  together  with  the  ringing  of  the  bell, 
but  with  a  stimulation  of  the  skin  following  a  little 
afterwards.  Consequently  an  inner  inhibition  was  de- 
veloped in  the  hearing  analyser  which  restrained  the 
energy  of  the  bell  stimulation  in  a  latent  condition,  did 
not  permit  it  to  pass  over  into  the  motor  elements.  In 
contrast  the  cortical  elements  of  the  skin  analyser  are 
in  no  co-temporal  association  with  the  motor  elements 
— as  we  have  seen,  the  skin  stimulation  as  such  arouses 
no  motor  act.  The  skin  analyser  is  exclusively  in  a  co- 
temporal  contact  with  the  inhibiting  mechanism  of  the 
hearing  analyser.  Therefore  it  is  clear  that  as  soon  as 
the  skin  stimulation  is  received  and  the  elements  of  the 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI      85 

skin  analyser  are  set  in  motion,  the  wave  of  the  stimu- 
lation (the  positive  energy)  must  tend  over  the  paths 
developed  towards  the  inhibiting  mechanism  of  the  hear- 
ing analyser.  The  inhibiting  energy  (negative  energy) 
which  is  concentrated  in  the  hearing  analyser  is  thereby 
neutralized  and  consequently  the  inhibiting  mechanism 
is  weakened  and  the  charge  of  positive  energy  of  the 
hearing  analyser  is  freed  from  the  inhibition.  This 
energy  of  the  hearing  analyser  will  be  conducted,  by 
the  temporary  associations  by  which  the  hearing  analy- 
ser is  connected  with  the  motor  element,  to  the  latter 
and  will  call  forth,  as  we  liave  seen,  a  motor  reaction" 
(100,  p.  392). 

This  mechanism  was  developed  in  a  five-year-old  child. 
A  cutaneous  conditional  reflex  was  developed  and  then 
a  ringing  of  a  bell  introduced  with  skin  stimulation  2 
minutes  later.  No  reaction  appears  but  to  the  next 
skin  stimulation  ten  minutes  later  a  reaction  is  evi- 
dent. 

This  mechanism  does  not  function  before  the  end 
of  the  second  year  of  life  and  only  reaches  its  full 
development  in  the  third  year.  In  excitable  neuropaths 
this  meclianism  develops  rapidly  but  also  disappears 
easily.  These  are  the  children  who  learn  rapidly  and 
forget  just  as  readily.  In  the  phlegmatic  neuropath 
the  mechanism  forms  slowly  and  then  in  some  imbeciles 
is  very  unstable  while  in  others  it  is  persistent.  Some 
children  who  learn  very  readily  also  keep  the  acquired 
reaction  very  persistently. 

These  six  mechanisms,  co-temporally  conditioned  re- 
flexes, their  inliibition,  memorially-conditioned  reflexes, 
specific  memory  reflexes,  ability  of  analysers,  lading 
and  discharge,  give  us  an  objective  measurement  of  the 
child's  neural  assets  which  must  replace  the  so-called 


86  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

intelligence  testing.  They  will  also  give  us  a  definite 
means  of  clinically  separating  the  pathological  cases 
in  early  childhood. 

Krasnogorski  asserts  also  that  (in  epileptics)  their 
functioning  will  indicate  the  onset  of  a  convulsion  and 
pass  through  four  stages  of  re-development  of  their 
power  of  functioning  after  a  convulsion.  In  myxoe- 
dema  the  reflexes  develop  slowly  and  disappear  rapidly. 
Thyroid  treatment  does  not  change  the  manner  of  func- 
tioning of  these  reflexes. 

There  is  a  diminution  of  activity  of  these  mechanisms 
in  the  beginning  of  tubercular  meningitis  and  this  de- 
crease is  constant  and  progressive. 

By  means  of  the  study  possible  at  an  early  age  by 
use  of  these  mechanisms  defects  discovered  may  be  cor- 
rectively and  educationally  dealt  with  long  before  they 
are  usually  noticed  and  the  possible  value  and  signifi- 
cance of  this  training  may  be  enormous. 

CRITICISM    OF    KRASNOGORSKl's    STUDIES 

Promising  and  valuable  as  Krasnogorski's  work  may 
appear  to  even  the  casual  reader,  no  one  would  deny 
that  it  is  suggestive  rather  than  decisive,  initial  rather 
than  final  and  inspirational  rather  than  scientific  so  far 
as  the  data  published  are  concerned  and  there  are  sev- 
eral points  open  to  criticism. 

In  his  statement  regarding  technique  Krasnogorski 
shows  he  has  eliminated  all  disturbing  stimuli  from  the 
external  world  by  ensuring  a  quiet  room  and  a  quiet 
subject  in  a  position  of  relaxation.  One  important 
factor  he  has  entirely  neglected  despite  these  precau- 
tions. That  is  the  child  himself.  No  mention  is  made 
as  to  how  he  was  induced  to  assume  the  position,  as  to 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI   87 

whether  he  was  familiar  with  the  experimenter,  what  his 
emotional  reaction  to  the  situation  was,  what  his  atti- 
tude mentally  was,  that  is,  was  he  bribed  or  threatened 
or  coaxed.  In  fact  that  whole  externally-undetectable 
group  of  factors  is  not  even  hinted  at  although  more 
detailed  statements  as  to  how  the  child  was  handled 
might  throw  some  light  upon  the  results  obtained. 

No  mention  is  made  by  Krasnogorski  of  the  criteria 
used  to  determine  the  mental  development  of  his  sub- 
jects. Idiots,  imbeciles,  cretins,  hysteria  cases,  neuro- 
psychopaths,  epileptics,  have  all  evidently  been  studied 
as  well  as  normal  children,  but  of  how  many  and  of 
what  ages,  degree  of  pathological  characterization,  and 
hereditary  predisposition  we  can  unfortunately  find  no 
statement. 

In  his  work  to  determine  pitch  discrimination  Kras- 
nogorski used  a  reflex  developed  upon  a  feeding  delayed 
ten  minutes  after  the  "beginning  of  the  sound."  How 
long  the  sound  was  kept  up  we  do  not  know,  but  the 
conditions  seem  rather  unfair  either  way.  If  the  sound 
were  continued  half  the  time  subjective  changes  such  as 
those  due  to  fatigue,  anticipation  and  fluctuation  of  at- 
tention would  make  final  discrimination  of  the  sound 
difficult  when  compared  with  another  at  least  five  or 
ten  minutes  later.  If  the  bell  rang  or  tone  sounded 
only  a  few  seconds  the  difficulty  would  be  to  tell  to  what 
extent  the  child  remembered  and  how  far  he  forgot  the 
stimulus  in  the  eight-  or  nine-minute  interval.  Prob- 
lems on  tonal  discrimination  undertaken  with  adults  re- 
port great  difficulty  in  discrimination  when  tones  are 
immediately  successive. 

Although  he  states  that  the  conditioned  reflex  is  very 
difficult  to  develop  in  children  under  one  year  of  age,  yet 
Krasnogorski  has  used  it  to  determine  color  discrimina- 


88  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

tion  at  the  age  of  six  or  seven  months,  showing  that  that 
mechanism  can  be  developed  at  such  an  age. 

The  time  intervals  in  the  various  experiments  differ 
without  any  seeming  rationality.  In  one  series  the  stim- 
ulation was  of  one  minute's  duration  and  with  two  min- 
utes between  successive  stimulations,  and  feeding  was 
fifteen  seconds  after  initiation  of  the  stimulation.  In 
testing  dissolution  of  the  reflex  thirty  seconds  of  stimu- 
lation at  five  minute  intervals  was  used.  In  another 
case  the  reflex  was  developed  by  thirty  seconds  of  stim- 
ulation applied  every  ten  minutes,  while  dissolution  was 
attempted  with  both  five-  and  ten-minute  periods. 

Since  in  this  latter  case  the  results  obtained  on  the 
same  child  varied  with  the  time  interval  we  must  con- 
sider this  interval  an  important  factor.  In  order  that 
results  may  be  at  all  valuable  for  comparison  it  must 
be  kept  as  nearly  constant  as  possible.  If  one  develops 
a  conditioned  reflex  with  a  minute's  stimulation  once 
every  three  minutes  and  breaks  it  down  with  thirty  sec- 
onds of  stimulation  every  five  minutes  there  are  two 
variables  in  the  time  factor  alone  and  the  value  of  the 
variation  between  development  and  dissolution  cannot 
be  calculated  except  through  results  obtained  by  numer- 
ous series  of  experiments.  Undoubtedly  a  minute's 
stimulation  is  diff*erent  from  a  half  minute's  application 
of  the  same  stimulus,  but  whether  the  additional  thirty 
seconds  strengthens  the  eff^ect,  whether  it  merely  bal- 
ances fatigue  or  whether  it  lessens  the  effect  through 
adaptation  can  not  be  settled  a  priori.  The  length  of 
interval,  too,  seems  to  affect  results  but  whether  three 
or  five  or  ten  minutes  is  most  conducive  to  rapid  devel- 
opment of  functioning  of  the  conditioned  reflex,  whether 
it  works  alike  on  all  ages  of  and  types  of  children  must 
be  questions  merely  raised  for  further  investigation. 


EXPERBIENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI      89 

Moreover  with  objective  methods  one  looks  for  ob- 
jective results.  In  very  few  of  Krasnogorski's  experi- 
ments do  we  have  statements  as  to  the  number  of  trials 
necessary  to  develop  the  mechanisms. 

In  one  instance  he  states  that  after  sixteen  stimula- 
tions a  memory  reflex  was  developed  (99,  p.  21).  No 
statement  is  given  as  to  the  amount  of  time  between 
these  stimulations.  If  it  was  even  three  minutes,  the 
shortest  interval  he  mentions  anywhere,  the  experiment 
occupied  forty-five  minutes.  This  is  a  period  of  such 
a  length  that  for  the  young  child  the  amount  of  fatigue 
in  the  later  stimulations  probably  almost  balanced  their 
impression  value.  If  the  experiment  was  carried  on  in 
two  or  more  sittings  fatigue  may  have  been  avoided  but 
there  is  no  statement  to  any  such  effect.  At  any  rate 
the  results  would  probably  be  different  if  achieved  at 
one  sitting  or  if  the  series  was  divided  and  knowledge  of 
the  condition  should  be  made  available. 

Throughout  Krasnogorski  speaks  of  hearing  "analy- 
sers," motor  "analysers,"  visual  "analysers"  and  their 
functioning  which  gives  specificity  to  the  conditioned  re- 
flexes. We  have  seen  his  physiological  explanation  of 
these  functioning  entities.  Need  we  accept  it?  A  less 
mystical  explanation  seems  to  lie  in  a  more  natural 
application  of  the  theory  of  cerebral  reflexes  in  its 
essential  foi-m.  A  stimulus  is  applied  to  some  one  sense 
organ.  The  excitation  passes  along  neural  paths  into 
the  brain  and  irradiates  into  conjunctive  paths.  Then 
a  second  excitant  passes  in  and  irradiates  from  the 
taste  paths  to  those  of  motor  type  leading  out  to  mus- 
cular and  glandular  innervation  of  the  throat,  lips  and 
salivary  glands.  But  part  of  the  irradiation  from  the 
motor  region  has  sped  along  the  nerves  leading  towards 
other  centers  including  the  one  already  stimulated  by 


90  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

our  first  excitant.  This  has  been  doubly  used  and  has 
a  stronger  tendency  to  function  a  second  time  than  a 
nerve  conductor  strengthened  by  usage  only  once. 
After  a  number  of  repetitions  this  path,  this  habit  or 
association  is  strong  enough  to  function  immediately 
when  only  the  one  stimulus  has  been  given.  This  is  a 
conditioned  reflex  pure  and  simple,  or  in  terms  more 
clearly  psychological  it  is  an  association,  arbitrarily 
determined,  between  some  one  sense  excitant  and  a  mo- 
tor innervation.    This  is  the  simplest  type  of  learning. 

The  persistence  of  the  conditioned  reflex  becomes  in 
psychological  terms  the  retention  of  the  association. 
Its  degenerescence  or  dissolution  becomes  unlearning. 

The  inhibition  of  the  conditioned  reflex  is  the  neural 
restraint  of  one  reflex  by  the  simultaneously  working 
efi'ect  of  a  second  reflex  as  strong  or  stronger. 

Where  the  conditioned  reflex  has  been  formed  upon 
the  memory  of  an  antecedent  stimulation  we  have  again 
the  simple  association  only  here  it  is  the  image  of  the 
sensation  or  even  probably,  in  the  later  part  of  the  ex- 
periment-series, the  sensation  of  cessation  of  stimula- 
tion which  is  associated  with  the  motor  cortical  center. 
May  it  be  supposed  that  if  the  image  functions  as  the 
excitant  a  greater  number  of  applications  of  the  stimu- 
lus will  be  necessary,  due  to  the  greater  vagueness  of  the 
image,  than  in  a  simultaneous  association?  May  we 
also  assume  that  if  the  series  needed  is  not  longer  the 
association  is  rather  with  the  cessation  of  the  stimulus? 

The  mere  fact  that  Krasnogorski  finds  that  the  so- 
called  "memory  reflex"  does  develop  as  easily  as  the 
usual  co-temporary  reflex  rather  indicates  that  this 
suggested  interpretation  is  the  correct  one. 

The  analysers  now  become  the  different  paths  of  con- 
veyance of  sense  impressions :    specificity  of  reaction 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI      91 

means  sensory  discrimination.  In  the  very  young  child 
it  will  be  hard  for  us  to  tell  how  far  this  approaches  the 
physiological  limen  of  sensory  discrimination  and  to 
what  extent  it  is  Seashore's  (152)  "cognitive"  discrimi- 
nating limen,  higher  or  less  fine  than  the  physiological 
limen  due  to  changes  in  interest,  attention,  effort  or  dis- 
turbances. In  so  far  as  it  is  dependent  upon  cognitive 
abilities  one  would  hesitate  before  using  it,  as  Krasno- 
gorski  suggests,  to  map  out  analgesic  or  anaesthetic 
centers  unless  the  mental  development  of  the  child  has 
been  carefully  ascertained  beforehand.  Moreover  the 
sensory  equipment  must  be  examined  before  we  can  be 
sure  the  cortical  mechanisms  are  getting  the  proper 
sensations  to  differentiate.  No  reference  to  any  such 
preliminary  study  is  made  by  Krasnogorski. 

The  conditioned  inhibition,  or  as  he  called  it,  "lad- 
ing and  discharge,"  may  be  explained  as  a  neural  as- 
sociation with  an  additional  link  in  it.  The  cutaneous 
stimulation,  for  example,  functions  through  no  direct 
path  to  the  motor  center  but  is  associated  with  an  audi- 
tory excitation  and  the  auditory  excitation  arouses 
the  motor  response.  Neither  one  functions  alone  be- 
cause in  all  probability  it  is  the  reception  of  an  audi- 
tory stimulation  by  the  organism  when  in  a  certain  at- 
titude produced  by  the  cutaneous  stimulation  plus  the 
memory  of  stimuli,  i.  e.,  a  state  of  active  attention, 
which  makes  the  auditory  stimulus  a  sufficient  excitant 
of  the  reaction.     Can  this  be  shown  objectively? 

Thus  we  see  instead  of  a  series  of  new  "mechanisms" 
merely  the  objectively  studied  results  of  a  behaving 
organism.  The  Pavlov  and  Krasnogorski  reflexes  must, 
as  Hough  (83)  has  pointed  out,  be  differentiated  from 
the  unconditioned  reflex  as  a  separate  type  of  reaction 
and  not  be  considered  merely  as  an  unconditioned  reflex 


92  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

in  process  of  formation.  The  conditioned  reflex  is 
learning,  association,  habit  formation.  As  such  the 
possibility  of  its  formation  is  a  so-called  conscious 
one,  functioning  through  the  cerebrum  and  by  means 
of  the  so-called  association  centers. 

The  validity  of  this  assumption  of  the  conditioned  re- 
flex as  a  functioning  of  the  neencephalon  is  confirmed 
by  Burnett's  (22)  work  on  the  decerebrate  frog,  which 
he  found  could  not  Uarn  to  escape  a  labyrinth  but  per- 
formed unconditioned  reflex  acts. 

The  observations  of  Edinger  and  Fischer  (42)  re- 
garding the  anencephalic  child  who  lived  a  purely  vege- 
tative existence  for  three  and  a  half  years  but  never 
showed  any  learning  ability  again  corroborate,  and  in 
a  more  striking  way,  the  same  interpretation  of  the 
conditioned  reflex. 

To  what  extent  we  may  class  the  formation  of  a  con- 
ditioned reflex  in  the  same  group  of  mental  processes 
as  the  verbal  associations  it  is  difficult  to  state.  In 
the  verbal  association  the  stimulus  may  be  the  same  as 
in  the  conditional  reflex,  may  vary  similiarly  in  intensi- 
ty and  complexity,  may  be  just  as  clearly  or  indefinitel}'- 
sensed,  causing  the  verbal  reaction  which  outwardly  dif- 
fers from  the  feeding  reactions  only  in  that  it  involves 
more  varied  motor  adjustments  which  are  not  so  fully 
developed  at  birth. 

The  conditioned  reflexes  as  we  commonly  conceive 
of  them  are  undoubtedly  more  direct,  and  have  fewer  in- 
termediate steps  in  their  development  but  how  many 
less  and  the  relative  amount  of  functioning  necessary  to 
form  an  association  of  either  type  can  only  be  deter- 
mined by  further  experimentation. 

The  claims  made  by  Krasnogorski  for  his  method 
and  findings  are  so  great  that  a  verification  or  disproof 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  KRASNOGORSKI      93 

of  them  seems  to  be  demanded  from  the  standpoint  of 
both  experimental  and  clinical  psychology.  If  the 
method  is  so  easily  and  accurately  applicable  and  al- 
lows of  so  many  variations,  it  opens  up  to  the  experi- 
mentalist a  most  promising  avenue  of  attack  upon  the 
infant  mind.  If  it  differentiates  with  such  accuracy 
the  defective  and  pathogenic  child  while  he  is  still  young 
enough  for  preventive  education  and  corrective  therapy 
to  have  a  chance,  it  will  revolutionize  our  present  clini- 
cal methods. 


CHAPTER  V 

METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE  MODIFIED 
FROM  KRASNOGORSKI 

SINCE  an  extensive  and  at  the  same  time  intensive 
study  of  all  the  processes  outlined  by  Krasno- 
gorski  would  involve  a  problem  too  voluminous  to  be 
handled  with  facility  and  coherence,  the  selection  for 
preliminary  study  of  the  processes  which  seemed  most 
significant  became  necessary.  As  the  formation  of  the 
conditioned  reflex  is  basal  to  all  the  other  mechanisms, 
it,  naturally,  would  be  included  in  any  group  selected. 
Then,  as  the  fatigue  incident  upon  the  development  of 
the  conditioned  reflex  would  be  apt  to  interfere  with 
the  successful  development  of  any  other  mechanism, 
the  further  experimentation  with  any  one  child  was 
postponed  until  the  following  day.  But  it  then  be- 
came necessary  to  ascertain  the  retained  functioning 
ability  of  the  conditioned  reflex  after  the  twenty-four 
hour  interval  and  this  consequently  was  a  test  of 
memorial  regression  or  saving  through  retention  of 
the  learning  of  the  previous  day. 

With  only  these  two  processes  in  mind,  after  some 
practice  experimentation  upon  available  babies,  seven 
idiots  at  the  Massachusetts  School  for  the  Feeble- 
Minded,  located  at  Waverly,  M^ere  studied.  Due  to  in- 
teresting differences  in  functioning  of  the  reflex  after 
the  24-hour  period,  48-,  72-  and  96-hour  intervals  were 
also  tried.  No  apparatus  was  used  for  recording 
the  mouth  opening  and  swallowings  but  the  movements 

94 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE        95 

were  observed  and  immediately  recorded  by  the  experi- 
menter who  felt  in  this  series  that  her  mechanization  of 
the  procedure  of  the  experiment  was  not  sufficient  to 
enable  her  to  handle  with  ease  the  apparatus  as  well  as 
the  child  and  the  food. 

The  results  obtained  by  this  series  of  experiments 
will  be  discussed  in  their  proper  connection  later. 

Next,  in  order  that  the  acquaintance  with  the  use  of 
Krasnogorski's  work  might  not  be  in  one  direction  only, 
a  long  series  of  observations  was  made  upon  one  child. 
This  was  a  boy  of  five  who  lived  near  enough  to  the 
laboratory  to  be  able  to  come  regularly,  in  spite  of  bad 
weather,  and  whose  parents  recognized,  because  of  their 
own  University  training,  the  value  of  such  studies  and 
gave  hearty  co-operation.  Recording  apparatus  was 
used  with  this  child  throughout  the  series. 

The  results  obtained  here  showed  the  need  for  ex- 
tensive study  of  each  process  to  determine  the  signifi- 
cance of  variations  in  its  functioning  as  well  as  to  de- 
termine the  probable  variations  among  children  of  dif- 
ferent ages,  abilities  and  capacities.  Consequently  it 
was  decided  that  the  best  method  of  attack  was  the 
study  of  a  few  of  the  processes  upon  a  large  unselected 
group  of  children. 

The  processes  finally  selected  for  study  in  the  large 
group  of  children  were  the  following : 

First,  the  formation  of  a  simple  conditioned  reflex, 
or,  in  other  terms,  the  formation  of  a  sensory-motor 
association. 

The  Pavlov  school  has  shown  that  any  stimulus  may 
be  made  the  effective  stimulus  for  the  functioning  of  a 
reflex  naturally  conditioned  by  some  other  stimulus. 
Such  a  stimulus  should  be  as  little  offensive  as  possible 
unless  we  are  interested  in   a  comparative   study   of 


96  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

pleasant  and  unpleasant  stimuli,  and  it  should  be  as 
simple  a  stimulus  as  possible  so  that  the  response  in 
different  children  may  not  be  due  to  response  to  differ- 
ent parts  of  a  complex  stimulus. 

Krasnogorski  usually  used  cutaneous  or  auditory 
stimuli  with  the  child  lying  blindfolded.  Of  course,  one 
rather  naturally  reasons  that  with  the  child,  as  with 
an  adult,  the  position  and  the  bandaged  eyes  would 
soon  suffice  to  develope  an  Einstellung  of  expectation  of 
being  fed.  But  it  is  highly  probable  that  these  factors 
remained  constant  throughout  the  experiment  and  the 
condition  persisting  through  periods  of  non-feeding 
soon  lost  whatever  stimulating  power  it  may  have  had, 
except  that  it  possibly  functioned  as  a  stimulus  arous- 
ing a  state  of  expectation  or  alertness. 

One  question  presents  itself,  however.  The  author 
tried  this  method  with  the  first  three  children  studied. 
Case  A  was  a  defective  child,  almost  idiotic  and  five 
years  old.  He  allowed  the  bandage  to  stay  on  five 
minutes,  then  began  to  fuss  and  tear  at  it.  His  hands 
were  held  down  by  the  nurse,  attendant  on  him,  until 
the  third  feeding  was  made  at  the  end  of  6'  15''  but 
even  that  did  not  distract  his  attention  and  he  began 
crying  in  earnest  and  stopped  only  when  the  bandage 
was  removed. 

Case  B  was  a  five-year-old  normal  child.  He  was 
told  to  "lie  there  quietly"  and  "wait  a  little  while," 
when  after  the  second  feeding  he  began  pulling  at  the 
bandage.  This  kept  him  from  fussing  for  two  minutes 
then  he  announced  he  didn't  "want  to  stay  there  any 
longer." 

Case  C  was  a  normal  child  of  fifteen  months  and  she 
cried  violently  and  tried  to  take  the  bandage  off  as 
soon  as  she  had  finished  tasting  the  first  bit  of  sweet 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE       97 

chocolate  given  as  the  stimulus. 

Krasnogorski  himself  observed  in  his  earlier  work 
that  crying  interfered  with  the  conditioned  reflex  and 
that  renewed  experimentation  should  be  delayed  until 
the  child  was  once  more  quiet.  This  statement  may  ac- 
count for  some  of  the  prolonged  intervals  (25  min.,  15 
min.,  etc.)  that  he  mentions  in  his  later  articles.  But 
from  another  point  of  view  how  much  better  it  would 
be  to  avoid  entirely  any  such  emotional  change  and  the 
consequent  uncertain  but  probable  modifications  in  the 
development  of  the  conditioned  reflex.  This  can  easily 
be  done  by  making  the  application  of  the  bandage  itself 
the  conditioning  stimulus.  The  interval  between  ex- 
citations is  then  a  so-called  "filled"  one  and  may  be 
devoted  to  play  or  to  other  experiments  with  the  same 
child. 

This  method  was  the  one  used  in  all  experiments  re- 
ported in  this  study.  The  bandage  was  applied  by 
gently  sliding  it  down  over  the  child's  eyes  from  above, 
with  a  slight  but  firm  pressure  of  one  finger  over  each 
eye,  thus  inducing  the  most  certain  exclusion  of  light 
and  then  the  bandage  was  kept  in  place  20''.  In  the 
eleventh  second  the  child  was  fed  a  bit  of  sweet  cho- 
colate and  the  bandage  was  removed  at  the  end  of 
the  twentieth  second.  Then  the  child  was  allowed  to 
sit  up  and  was  kept  busy  with  other  tests  for  the  in- 
terval that  must  elapse  before  the  process  was  re- 
peated. The  lying  down  was  itself  kept  from  becom- 
ing the  conditioning  stimulus  by  frequently  lying  the 
child  down  in  the  intervals  between  experiments.  The 
three-minute  interval  was  used.  That  is,  it  was  three 
minutes  from  the  initiation  of  any  one  stimulation  until 
the  beginning  of  the  next  stimulation. 

Several  factors  determined  the  choice  of  these  time 


98  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

intervals.  Ten  seconds  is  the  least  period  of  excita- 
tion used  by  Krasnogorski  and  it  seemed  well  to  use 
a  period  that  would  give  a  basis  of  direct  comparison 
with  some  of  his  work.  This  shortest  period  was  cho- 
sen because  of  the  probability  that  a  finer,  more  ex- 
tensive series  of  numerical  results  could  be  obtained 
(in  terms  of  the  number  of  applications  of  stimulus 
necessary  to  evoke  response)  if  the  stimulus  were  less 
and  hence  less  effective  in  any  one  application. 

The  three-minute  interval  was  chosen  instead  of  the 
five-,  ten-  or  twenty-minute  interval  in  order  to  expe- 
dite the  development  of  the  association.  Probably  here, 
too,  a  finer  gradation  in  number  of  trials  necessary  to 
obtain  a  positive  reaction  would  have  been  obtained  if 
a  longer  interval  had  been  used  but  this  consideration 
seemed  outweighed  by  the  following  factors: 

1.  The  need  of  finishing  each  day's  work  with  the 
child  before  fatigue  was  sufficient  to  play  an  important 
role  in  results  obtained. 

2.  The  need  of  finishing  the  work  with  each  child  in 
a  small  enough  number  of  days  so  that  he  would  not 
lose  interest  in  the  general  situation. 

3.  The  need  of  developing  any  standards  that  might 
be  evolved  in  an  expeditious  procedure  which  would  be 
short,  direct,  specific  enough  for  clinical  use  in  case 
Krasnogorski's  claims  of  the  diagnostic  value  of  the 
method  were  confirmed. 

The  average  length  of  time  a  child  was  to  be  used 
was  set  at  one-half  hour.  This  allowed  for  the  initial 
procedure  and  ten  repetitions  if  that  number  proved 
necessary.  In  case  more  were  needed  the  procedure 
was  continued  at  twenty-four-hour  intervals  until  the 
desired  result  was  obtained.  The  child  was  considered 
to  have  learned  to  associate  the  bandage  with  the  feed- 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE       99 

ing  of  chocolate  when  he  twice  in  succession  opened  his 
mouth  for  the  chocolate  before  the  ten  seconds  preced- 
ing the  stimulation  by  chocolate  had  elapsed. 

It  was  felt  necessary  to  use  the  two  responses  because 
sometimes  one  response  might  be  observed  and  record- 
ed and  considered  an  opening  of  the  mouth  in  antici- 
pation of  food  when  it  was  really  a  slight  yawn,  a 
cough,  a  deep  breath,  or  a  laugh. 

The  appearance  of  two  consecutive  positive  reac- 
tions ended  the  work  for  that  day. 

Twenty-four  hours  later  the  second  process  was  car- 
ried out.  This  was  the  memorial  functioning  of  the 
association  and  it  was  proposed  that  it  be  tested  by 
the  Ersparnis  Methode — calculating  the  number  of 
trials  less  than  the  number  used  in  developing  the  asso- 
ciation that  were  necessary  to  cause  it  to  function  in 
the  same  manner.  Unfortunately  any  one  memory  in- 
terval chosen  arbitrarily  is  not  apt  to  be  the  most  effi- 
cient interval.  The  twenty-four-hour  interval  was  one 
that  had  best  claims  for  investigation,  however,  from 
our  standpoint.  It  allowed,  as  do  any  of  the  day  in- 
tervals in  contrast  to  the  part-day  intervals,  a  second 
experimentation  with  the  child  under  conditions  of 
feeding,  rest,  and  play  most  nearly  approximating 
those  of  the  previous  work.  It  also  is  an  interval  short 
enough  to  be  used  possibly  in  the  clinical  study  of 
children,  and,  as  the  difficulty  of  getting  children  who 
are  not  under  one's  immediate  control  seemingly  dou- 
bles with  every  additional  day  over  which  the  experi- 
mentation must  extend,  it  seemed  practically  worth 
studying.  Moreover,  it  may  allow  for  some  compari- 
sons with  recalls  of  reagents  on  other  problems  where 
the  interval  of  delayed  recall  most  frequently  used  is 
one  of  twenty-four  hours. 


100  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

As  soon  as  the  associative  functioning  was  re-estab- 
lished in  the  child  the  third  process  was  begun.  This 
is  what  Krasnogorski  called  the  inhibition  and  degener- 
escence  of  the  conditioned  reflex.  The  bandage  was 
placed  over  the  child's  eyes  just  the  same  as  when  the 
association  was  developed  but  this  time  the  child  was 
not  fed.  This  was  repeated  until  the  anticipatory 
mouth  openings  and  swallowings  were  entirely  absent 
in  two  successive  trials.  The  association  was  then  con- 
sidered to  be  inhibited  or  unlearned  to  a  point  below 
the  functioning  level.  From  an  objective  standpoint 
we  can  not  say  whether  it  was  really  an  inhibition  that 
was  developed  or  merely  a  fading  out  of  the  association 
previously  formed,  but  the  term  "unlearning"  indicates 
merely  the  absence  of  a  response  while  the  term  "in- 
hibition" more  frequently  means  the  restraining  action 
of  an  additional,  newly-introduced  factor,  so  it  seems 
better  to  leave  the  latter  term  to  be  applied  to  the  more 
complex  Krasnogorski  process  described  in  Chapter 
IV,  and  to  designate  the  third  process  used  in  this  study 
as  "unlearning." 

The  number  of  trials  necessary  to  effect  the  unlearn- 
ing were  in  some  cases  too  many  to  allow  of  full  de- 
velopment in  half  an  hour.  The  question  arose 
whether  here  as  on  the  learning  process  the  work  should 
be  suspended  until  the  next  day  and  after  due  con- 
sideration was  answered  in  the  negative.  Here  we 
are  dealing  with  a  process  more  apt  to  be  unpleasant 
to  the  child  than  pleasant.  In  the  learning  he  has  been 
fed  every  time  with  a  bit  of  chocolate  and  learned  to 
expect  it,  here  he  expects  it  and  doesn't  get  it.  The 
probabilities  were  that  if  taken  home  in  that  state  he 
would  be  apt  to  refuse  to  come  back  the  next  day  and 
the  work  would  remain  unfinished.     Also  there  was  the 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE     101 

probability  that  the  effect  of  the  partially  effected 
unlearning  might  be  strengthened  in  some  and  weakened 
in  others  during  the  twenty-four-hour  interval  so  that 
we  would  have  to  deal  with  an  unknown  factor  in  evalu- 
ating our  results. 

Feeling  that  these  considerations  were  sufficiently  im- 
portant to  make  it  worth  while  risking  fatigue  the  ex- 
periments were  continued  until  the  desired  results  were 
obtained,  although  every  effort  was  made  through  va- 
ried plays  and  games  and  story-telling  to  decrease  the 
fatigue  factor  as  far  as  possible. 

For  a  test  of  reassociation,  the  fourth  process 
studied,  immediately  after  a  three-minute  interval  had 
elapsed  after  the  completion  of  the  unlearning,  the 
stimulus  was  repeated  but  this  time  the  child  was  fed. 
This  was  repeated  until  he  again  reacted  positively 
twice  in  succession. 

A  saving  of  several  trials  was  effected  in  the  follow- 
ing manner :  The  first  time  the  conditioned  reflex  func- 
tioned when  it  was  being  memorially  tested  on  the  sec- 
ond day  the  child  was  of  course  fed  but  when  on  a 
successive  trial  it  functioned  similarly  the  child  was 
not  fed.  Thus  although  the  trial  gave  us  our  positive 
reaction  indicating  that  the  association  functioned,  yet 
it  also  became  the  first  in  our  series  of  trials  for  un- 
learning. Likewise  the  second  of  two  successive  trials 
indicating  complete  unlearning  was  used  as  the  first 
of  the  series  to  correct  the  unlearning  by  giving  the 
chocolate.  Also,  no  preliminary  record  was  considered 
necessary  as  indicating  the  quiescent  state  of  the  child 
other  than  the  foreperiod  of  the  first  actual  trial. 

With  this  procedure  carefully  carried  out  one  has 
a  quantitive  expression  of  the  ability  of  the  individual 
(a)  in  associative  learning,  the  more  rapid  the  learn- 


102  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ing  the  fewer  the  number  of  trials  required;  (b)  in 
memory  or  forgetting,  the  fewer  the  number  of  trials 
the  greater  the  retention;  (c)  of  the  inhibitory  effect 
of  a  change  in  conditions  and  hence  of  unlearning  or 
adaptability,  the  adaptation  being  greater  the  fewer 
the  number  of  trials  required;  and  (d)  re-association  or 
re-learning,  this  being  less  difficult  the  fewer  the  num- 
ber of  trials  required. 

The  objective  method  of  recording  used  was  a 
slightly  modified  form  of  that  described  by  Krasnogor- 
ski.  A  small  receptive  disc  of  a  Marey  tambour,  at- 
tached to  a  long  rubber  tube,  was  placed  under  the 
hyoid  bone  and  over  the  thyroid  cartilage.  This  disc 
passed  through  a  slit  in  a  strip  of  linen  and  was  held 
in  place  by  this  strip  being  wrapped  around  the  child's 
neck.  The  rubber  tube  connected  with  a  recording  disc 
which  recorded  all  the  movements  of  the  throat  and 
lower  jaw  upon  a  kymograph.  This  recording  appara- 
tus was  kept  in  place  throughout  the  experiment,  a  pro- 
cedure rendered  feasible  by  having  the  rubber  tubing 
plenty  long  enough  to  allow  the  child  free  movement 
without  his  disturbing  the  adjustment  of  the  record- 
ing end. 

The  time  was  likewise  recorded  on  the  kymograph  by 
a  Jacquet  chronometer  and  an  electric  indicator  con- 
trolled by  a  telegraph  key  made  it  possible  to  record 
the  actual  moment  in  which  the  food  stimulus  was 
given,  as  well  as  the  presentation  of  other  stimuli. 

Another  point  that  had  to  be  considered  was  the 
method  of  handling  the  child  himself.  This  method 
begins  logically  with  the  manner  of  handling  the  com- 
munity in  order  to  obtain  permission  to  use  the  children. 
A  wrong  attitude  developed  in  the  parent  may  not  al- 
ways bring  a  refusal  of  the  use  of  the  child  but  may 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE     103 

instead  bring  such  comment  and  criticism  within  the 
family  that  the  child  feels  the  attitude  and  reacts  ac- 
cordingly towards  the  experimenter. 

Of  course  with  the  low  grade  defectives  there  was 
little  trouble.  They  were  under  institutional  care  and 
consent  was  readily  given  by  Dr.  Femald  when  per- 
mission to  use  them  was  asked.  They  themselves  were 
too  low-grade  to  seem  much  influenced  by  even  the  pet- 
ting and  caresses  of  their  nurses  and  being  in  an  insti- 
tution were  accustomed  to  the  presence  of  little-known 
faces.  Care  was  taken  to  visit  and  study  all  of  them, 
though,  before  experimenting  began  and  with  the  two 
of  highest  grade  quite  a  play  intimacy  was  developed. 

With  the  normal  boy  Partil  who  was  used  for  some 
time  the  intimacy  was  developed  through  two  trips  to 
his  home  before  he  was  asked  to  go  to  the  laboratory, 
but  there  he  made  up  readily  and  consented  at  once 
to  come,  although  his  parents  thought  this  a  little  un- 
usual as  he  was  rather  timid.  That  the  relation  was 
perfectly  normal  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  second 
time  I  called  at  his  home  he  was  taking  a  nap  and  on 
awakening  and  hearing  that  I  was  there  he  brought  his 
shoes  and  suit  in  and  asked  me  to  help  him  put  them 
on  and  button  the  buttons. 

In  the  attempt  to  use  a  large  group  of  children  from 
average  homes  the  situation  is  somewhat  more  difficult. 
Consequently  the  experimenter  studied  first  of  all  the 
village  habits  and  conditions  before  attempting  to  gain 
permission  to  use  the  children. 

The  work  was  done  in  a  village  of  about  400  inhabi- 
tants. (1910  census  says  241.)  The  village  is  subur- 
ban to  one  of  our  large  eastern  cities  and  has  splendid 
railroad  service,  rendering  the  metropolis  easily  access- 
ible for  business  and  recreation.     It  is  also  on  a  State 


104  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

Road  which  gives  rise  to  heavy  automobile  traffic  and 
makes  possible  a  goodly  amount  of  automobile  trade. 
It  has  a  community  composed  of  a  large  percentage  of 
professional  men,  commuting  to  the  city,  a  still  larger 
group  of  railroad  employees  of  middle  scale — engineers, 
conductors,  electrical  staff,  etc.,  due  to  the  village  be- 
ing the  terminal  for  all  suburban  trains,  and  a  new 
and  growing  percentage  engaged  in  cement-block  mak- 
ing. Besides  these  there  is  a  group  of  some  twenty  to 
forty  men  employed  by  the  leading  business  concern 
of  the  place,  a  wholesale  and  retail  flour,  feed  and  lum- 
ber mill  and  coal  yard.  The  most  significant  fact  per- 
haps is  that  there  are  in  a  literal  sense  no  dependents 
in  the  community.  Some  years  ago  a  number  of  good 
ladies  of  the  place  organized  a  Dorcas  Society  and 
sewed  for  the  poor,  only  to  find  that  there  were  no  poor 
to  accept  the  garments  when  they  were  made. 

Of  course  there  are  those  who  are  poor,  but  as  each 
little  house  usually  has  its  own  garden  and  as  almost 
every  one  keeps  a  few  chickens,  smaller  wages  suffice 
and  the  independence  and  frugality  of  these  poor  not 
only  makes  charity  impossible  but  also  shows  that  they 
are  normal  individuals  even  if  not  well  to  do. 

No  one  group,  or  social  level,  was  used  in  this  experi- 
ment but  re-agents  were  drawn  from  all  as  far  as  pos- 
sible. A  couple  of  rooms  near  the  center  of  the  vil- 
lage were  rented  and  starting  with  children  nearest 
at  hand  they  were  sought  in  an  ever-widening  circle 
until  practically  all  resources  were  exhausted.  Here 
and  there  a  child  was  skipped  because  he  was  away 
when  that  part  of  the  village  was  covered  or  because 
he  lived  so  far  away  from  all  other  children  as  to  make 
the  trip,  proportionately  to  the  need  of  using  him, 
rather  a  proceeding  not  worth  while. 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE      105 

The  majority  of  the  people  dwelling  there  were 
known,  at  least  by  name,  to  the  experimenter  and 
through  them  the  rest  were  easily  met  or  in  many  in- 
stances  self-introduction  worked  informally  and  well. 

The  experimenter  studied  first  of  all  the  village  hab- 
its. Like  true  German  housewives,  since  they  lived  in 
a  community  where  German  traditions  if  not  German 
blood  flourished,  the  morning  hours  were  busy  ones  for 
the  most.  Housekeeping,  cooking,  gardening,  cleaning, 
washing,  made  morning  calls  unsolicited  and  painfully 
formal.  Early  afternoon  meant  children  and  many 
mothers  napping,  but  about  four  o'clock  the  broad 
porches  and  big  or  little  lawns  were  in  general  use. 
Neighborly  chats  and  semi-social  trips  to  the  grocery 
store  or  for  the  mail  showed  the  village  as  a  place  full 
of  real  live  people,  but  as  most  of  them  were  financially 
situated  so  that  they  did  their  own  cooking,  they  were 
not  apt  to  be  far  away  for  a  long  time,  for  the  man 
of  the  house  here  receives  due  consideration  of  his  la- 
bours and  needs.  In  the  evening  coolness  the  whole 
little  family  was  apt  to  jaunt  out  to  some  farther  point 
— the  moving  picture,  the  lanes  lined  with  berry  bushes 
or  the  neighboring,  more  metropolitan,  village. 

Consequently  the  time  between  four  and  six,  not  too 
near  six,  was  chosen  as  the  time  to  solicit  the  loan  of 
children.  Beginning  with  the  children  of  the  "best  citi- 
zen" was  avoided.  Instead  I  chose  to  ask  the  wife  of 
the  chauffeur  of  one  of  the  best  citizens  to  lend  me  her 
three  babies.  The  fact  that  I'd  take  them  all  at  once, 
for  a  whole  morning,  two  days  in  succession,  appealed 
to  her  gossip-loving,  care-hating  mind,  and  she  con- 
sented. By  the  next  morning  the  news  of  the  choice  as 
well  as  the  fact  that  I  had  asked  her  to  help  me  get  a 
complete  list  of  other  children  was  over  the  whole  vil- 


106  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

lage  "circle,"  for  which  she  helped  set  the  pace.  Dur- 
ing the  two  days  I  used  these  children  I  visited  other 
parents  in  that  section,  securing  their  consent  and  let- 
ting them  name  any  two  days  that  suited  them  best, 
explaining  with  emphasis  the  importance  of  the  sec- 
ond day,  and  getting  acquainted  with  the  children. 
This  was  not  difficult.  The  news  of  toys  and  games 
and  of  pennies  to  spend  for  candy  before  one  came  home 
scored  every  time. 

Whenever  there  were  two  or  three  children  under 
eight  in  the  family  I  tried  to  use  them  the  same  days 
and,  if  there  were  only  one  or  two,  other  children  whom 
they  knew  were  taken  the  same  days.  I  found  I  could 
handle  three  in  a  morning  and  this  number  was  the 
most  satisfactory.  If  I  had  only  two,  one  was  left 
to  play  alone  while  the  other  was  being  used.  If  there 
were  three,  two  played  together,  although  if  they  were 
very  young  I  had  a  young  girl  come  to  assist  by  taking 
care  of  them.  If  more  than  three  were  used  the  ex- 
periments ran  too  near  breakfast  period  on  one  ex- 
treme, and  too  near  lunch  time  on  the  other,  so  that 
satiety  and  hunger  in  more  extreme  forms  were  intro- 
duced. 

Calling  for  the  children  myself  gave  me  a  chance  to 
get  acquainted  with  them  more  fully  while  on  the  way 
to  "my  house."  Once  there,  on  all  pleasant  days  the 
children  helped  take  the  playthings  out  on  to  a  large 
shady  corner  porch  connected  by  a  glass  door  with  the 
room  used  for  experimenting.  In  bad  weather  they 
played  in  an  adjoining  room.  Sometimes  an  older  sis- 
ter came  along.  This  usually  simplified  matters  but  the 
permission  was  always  offered  as  a  great  privilege  and 
was  naturally  always  so  regarded. 

Then  the  children  usually  wandered  around  in  the 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE      107 

room  while  I  put  up  windows,  smoked  the  kymograph 
paper,  wound  up  the  kymograph,  etc.,  and  prepared 
record  sheets.  They  usually  asked  what  the  kymo- 
graph was — what  it  was  for,  and  even  if  they  didn't 
I  always  explained — explained  so  as  to  form  an  asso- 
ciation fully  dissociating  its  slight  noise  from  the  main 
experiment — that  I  ran  it  to  make  the  room  cooler  and 
keep  flies  and  mosquitos  out.  Then  I  allowed  it  to  run 
so  that  they  would  become  accustomed  to  the  noise. 
The  rest  of  the  apparatus  was  never  taboo — any  ques- 
tions and  curiosity  were  eliminated  before  we  began 
experimenting. 

The  next  question  was  how  to  attack  the  work  itself. 
Here  a  consideration  of  the  fundamental  nature  of 
the  child  gives  us  as  an  attribute  most  likely  to  form 
an  adequate  basis  for  handling  him,  his  instinctive  love 
for  play.  So  our  whole  procedure  became  a  game.  The 
children  were  told  that  I  wanted  to  play  something  with 
each  one  alone  and  so  I'd  take  Marie  first  and  then 
James.  The  others  could  play  house,  tea  party  or 
what  they  wished  on  the  porch.  Schmitt  also  recog- 
nizes this  for  she  writes :  "With  him  (the  child)  the  mo- 
tive most  conducive  to  natural  reaction,  uncomplicated^ 
by  disturbing  emotions,  is  the  play  motive"  (149,  p. 
13).  Two  factors  had  to  be  watched,  however.  The 
toys  must  not  be  given  in  such  profusion  as  to  make 
a  child  lose  all  interest  in  what  might  be  going  on  in- 
doors and  the  play  indoors  must  be  made  sufficiently 
attractive  to  make  him  eager  to  come  back  a  second 
day. 

The  chocolate  stimulus  itself  was  quite  effective  in 
this  way  and  then  if  there  were  any  things  a  particu- 
lar child  disliked  in  the  secondary  tests  they  were  left 
until  the  second  day.    Also  on  our  way  home  we  usually 


108  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

stopped  at  the  corner  drug  store  and  each  youngster 
had  an  ice  cream  cone.  By  the  time  he  had  finished 
this  he  was  home  and  the  recollections  of  any  unpleas- 
ant details  of  fatigue  were  lost  in  the  anticipation  of 
another  such  treat.  Also  the  fact  that  I  treated  their 
children  in  such  an  unnecessary  fashion  made  many 
of  the  mothers  consider  themselves  under  more  heavy 
obligation  to  let  me  have  the  children  the  second  day. 

The  most  conclusive  proof  I  can  state  to  the  effect 
that  what  extra  trouble  there  was  was  worth  while  is 
that  no  mother  refused  to  let  me  borrow  her  children, 
although  in  one  case  the  father  had  to  be  consulted 
before  she'd  say  yes.  Moreover,  of  all  the  children 
tested  one  day,  none  failed  to  come  the  second  day 
except  one  little  boy  that  I  refused  to  take  because  he 
was  ill.  The  rest  all  wanted  to  come  back  again,  of- 
fering to  come  with  other  children,  to  help  me,  to  put 
the  toys  away  or  even  in  several  instances  declaring 
they  wanted  to  come  and  live  with  me. 

During  the  two-and-a-half-minute  intervals  in  all  of 
these  processes  a  definite  procedure  was  followed.  Bit 
by  bit  the  Binet  tests  and  those  additional  tests  neces- 
sary for  the  Point  Scale  evaluation,  were  given.  The 
Healy  Construction  Puzzles  A  and  B,  the  Healy  Foal 
and  Mare  and  School  Puzzles,  the  Goddard  Adaptation 
Board,  and  Goddard  modification  of  the  Seguin  Form 
Board  were  also  used.  Also  each  child  was  measured 
for  standing  and  sitting  height,  weight,  dynamometer 
measurement  of  grip  with  the  right  and  left  hand  and 
lung  capacity  as  measured  by  the  wet  spirometer. 

The  intelligence  of  the  parents  was  also  rather  point- 
edly observed  during  the  visits  to  the  homes,  which 
also  gave  significant  facts  regarding  each  child's  en- 
vironment.   These  estimations  of  intelligence  of  the  pa- 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE     109 

rents  as  average  or  not  were  corroborated  by  appeal 
to  the  family  physician  of  the  village,  and  in  still 
doubtful  instances  by  appeal  to  the  leading  business 
man  of  the  village  who  was  in  financial  touch  with  prac- 
tically all  of  them. 

One  requirement  that  is  harder  to  fulfill  when  work- 
ing with  children  than  it  is  when  working  with  adults 
is  that  of  uniform  verbal  Aufgabe.  Even  though  the 
task  itself  may  be  uniformly  explained  or  directed  the 
child  cannot  and  does  not  (nor  need  he)  understand  the 
purpose  as  even  an  untrained  adult  does.  He  asks 
questions  and  they  must  be  answered;  he  raises  objec- 
tions, they  must  be  met;  he  modifies  his  procedure  to 
suit  his  own  pleasure.  The  control  of  all  this  must 
not  be  one  of  forcing  into  a  narrow  and  fixed  groove 
all  responses  so  that  they  may  be  used  but  in  a  quick 
adaptation  of  non-essentials  which  are  kept  before  the 
child  while  the  process  under  observation  is  tested  un- 
der unmodified  conditions.  One  may  have  to  pet,  coax, 
bribe,  or  even  with  some  children  threaten  a  little  but 
I  write  this  last  word  rather  hesitatingly.  In  most 
children  threatening  of  any  sort  upsets  the  normal 
poise.  Now  and  then  one  finds,  however,  the  child 
who  may  be  threatened  by  the  idea  of  how  badly  ho 
would  feel  if  he  failed,  if  some  one  else,  a  concrete  per- 
son, did  better  than  he.  Or  one  finds  the  child  who 
may  need  to  be  told  that  we  won't  need  him  unless  he 
tries  harder.  But  usually  the  work  should  be  held 
as  a  privilege  and  open  choice  on  the  material  or  ac- 
tivity to  fill  the  rest  intervals  will  lead  the  child  h) 
feel  he  is  perfectly  free  in  the  whole  procedure.  One 
of  the  chief  advantages  of  this  method  of  conditioned 
reflexes  is  its  utter  lack  of  any  need  for  verbal  direc- 
tions, the  child  formulates  for  himself  his  response  to 


110  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

a  situation. 

Besides  the  kymograph  record  of  the  movements,  the 
observed  movements  not  only  of  mouth  and  throat  but 
of  the  whole  body,  any  unusual  disturbance  and  any 
verbal  or  behavior  reactions  were  noted  immediately 
after  each  trial. 

The  extra  tests,  which  consisted  of  all  the  more  gen- 
erally used  clinic  tests  for  mental  diagnosis  that  are 
applicable  with  such  young  subjects,  were  given  in  a 
standard  way,  the  one  adapted  by  the  experimenter 
after  five  years  of  experience  with  such  tests. 

In  using  the  Binet  Scale  the  Goddard  (58,  60,  62) 
Revision  was  used  throughout  and  supplemented,  as 
is  done  in  the  Vineland  Laboratory  and  the  Massachu- 
setts School  for  Feeble-Minded,  by  the  Binet-Simon 
series  of  six  easier  tests  for  idiots  (57). 

The  Point  Scale  was  used  as  accurately  as  possible 
according  to  directions  given  in  the  article  in  print 
at  that  time  (190),  as  the  Yerkes-Bridges  (191)  book 
on  the  Scale  had  not  then  been  issued  from  the  press. 
Where  the  questions  in  the  Binet  and  the  Point  Scale 
were  similar  but  varied  in  difficulty  of  presentation,  the 
more  difficult  form  was  given  first  and  if  that  failed 
the  less  difficult  method  was  used,  credit  being  given 
accordingly. 

The  Healy  Boards  were  all  four  presented  to  the 
child  one  after  another  with  the  directions  suggested  by 
Healy  and  Femald  (75).  Minute  records  were  not 
made  of  the  errors  but  merely  a  record  of  the  total 
length  of  time  and  the  type  of  procedure,  although  if 
Schmitt's  (149)  standardization  had  appeared  before 
the  experiments  had  been  made  I  would  undoubtedly 
have  followed  her  suggestion  and  recorded  the  time 
on  the  triangles  in  the  Foal  and  Mare  Puzzle  sepa- 


METHODOLOGY  AND  TECHNIQUE      111 

rately. 

The  Adaptation  Board  was  used  as  Goddard  (63) 
suggests  but  with  these  modifications  and  additions. 
Due  to  the  brief,  indirect  directions  given  it  may  be 
possible  that  a  child  fails  on  the  first  turn  because  of 
lack  of  or  rather  misdirected  attention.  Hence,  if  a 
child  failed  on  the  first  trial  but  succeeded  on  the  sec- 
ond, another  trial  was  given  on  the  turn  from  lower 
left  to  lower  right.  Then  several  new  moves  were  also 
added  to  the  board's  use.  These  are  ones  suggested 
but  not  standardized  by  Goddard  (63,  p.  188),  The 
third  turn,  or  first  added  turn,  was  from  lower  left  to 
lower  right  and  on  to  upper  right  without  stopping. 
The  fourth  turn  was  from  upper  right  to  upper  left  to 
lower  left  to  lower  right  without  stopping.  These  ad- 
ditions allow  of  a  wider  use  of  the  test  and  finer  gra- 
dation of  ability. 

The  Form  Board  was  used  as  Goddard  (61)  and  Syl- 
vester (168)  suggest.  It  was  given  three  times  the 
first  day  and,  on  the  last  nineteen  children,  three  times 
on  the  second  day.  This  usage  on  the  second  day  sug- 
gested itself  at  that  point  as  another  corroboration  of 
the  memorial  regression  of  learning.  This  board,  as 
well  as  all  other  of  the  tests  were  presented  to  all  the 
children  used,  regardless  of  any  doubts  the  experi- 
menter had,  due  to  the  age  of  the  child,  as  to  its  ability 
to  perform  the  required  tasks.  The  time  was  recorded 
with  a  stop-watch  and  the  child  urged  to  hurry  and 
make  speed  a  part  of  his  goal-idea. 

Height  standing  and  sitting  were  measured  in  milli- 
meters and  expressed  to  tlie  nearest  centimeter. 

Weight  was  measured  in  kilograms  to  the  nearest 
tenth. 

Grip  was  measured  in  kilograms  to  the  nearest  tenth 


112  !  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

upon  an  adjustable  Sraedley  dynamometer. 

Lung  capacity  was  measured  by  the  wet  spirometer 
and  expressed  in  liters  to  the  nearest  hundredth. 

With  exactly  the  same  procedure  another  group  of 
such  children  as  tested  normal  or  nearly  so  by  the  Binet 
and  performance  tests  but  who  were,  because  of  hered- 
ity or  a-social  reactions,  suspected  of  mental  defect 
was  studied.  These  children,  seven  in  number,  were 
inmates  or  observation  cases  at  the  Massachusetts  State 
School  for  the  Feeble-Minded. 

Also,  two  children  were  accessible  who  had  been  clini- 
cally studied  and  diagnosed  as  not  feeble-minded  but 
as  "normal  on  all  tests."  These  children  had  been  taken 
to  the  clinic  because  of  suspected  defect  due  to  lack 
of  ability  to  get  along  in  school. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PRELIMINARY    EXPERIMENTS    AND    THEIR 
INDICATIONS 

THE  preliminary  investigation  of  the  use  of  Kras- 
nogorski's  method  was  twofold.  First  a  study 
was  made  of  seven  young  defective  children  who  were 
available.  It  seemed  feasible  that  a  method  whch  could 
be  applied  with  definite  results  upon  such  low-grade 
children  would  be  applicable  without  difficulty  upon 
normal  children;  also,  if  Krasnogorski's  statements 
were  true,  the  conditioned  reflexes  would  here  be  ob- 
tained only  with  greater  difficulty  than  upon  normals 
and  hence  their  development  would  allow  more  experi- 
mentation with  the  method  itself. 

Secondly,  an  extensive  study  was  made  of  one  child, 
endeavoring  to  develop  a  number  of  the  various  mechan- 
isms, but  here  again  primarily  with  the  aim  of  study- 
ing and  understanding  the  method. 

The  work  upon  the  seven  low-grade  defectives  in- 
volved two  processes,  learning  and  forgetting. 

Although  the  method  used  with  this  group  varied 
somewhat  from  individual  to  individual,  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  procedure  was  one  arbitrarily  determined  yet 
the  results  seem  worth  presenting  in  detail,  chiefly  be- 
cause they  form  the  basis  for  the  definite  procedure 
followed  upon  the  larger  group  of  children  used  in  the 
later  experiments. 

The  plan  begun  with  was  to  leave  the  child  lying 

113 


114  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

on  a  low  couch  (all  but  two  of  the  seven  studied  spent 
their  whole  day  lying  down  or  tied  in  a  chair)  and  to 
apply  the  bandage  as  previously  described.  Then  after 
5  seconds  to  stimulate  the  right  arm  above  the  elbow 
for  10  seconds  and  in  the  sixteenth  second  to  feed  a  bit 
of  sweet  chocolate,  to  be  exact,  a  piece  one  centimeter 
square. 

The  first  modification  came  in  the  food  stimulus. 
Three  of  the  seven  cliildren  refused  to  eat  candy  and 
were  accustomed  to  liquid  foods  only.  This  fact  was 
ascertained  beforehand.  Each  was  then  experimen- 
tally fed  a  bit  of  chocolate  and  when  it  was  definitely 
refused  a  new  stimulus,  sweetened  water,  was  adopted. 
Two  of  them  took  this  readily  from  a  spoon  but  the 
third  refused  this  when  made  from  white  sugar  and 
took  it  only  when  it  was  made  from  brown  sugar  to 
which  he  had  become  accustomed.  It  was  thought  bet- 
ter to  use  this  rather  than  honey,  which  was  used  by 
Krasnogorski,  as  honey  is  not  only  an  unknown  taste 
quality  to  some  children  and  not  always  liked  when 
first  tasted,  but  the  use  of  it  is  apt  to  lead  rapidly  to 
a  feeling  of  satiety,  at  least  such  is  the  report  of  a 
number  of  older  persons,  and  our  stimulus  should  be 
just  sufficient  to  evoke  with  the  sensation  a  pleasant 
affective  toning  making  the  subject  desirous  of  more. 

The  next  modification  was  that  regarding  the  use  of 
the  bandage.  It  seemed  highly  probable  that  these  de- 
fective children  were  so  low  grade  that  they  might 
easily  be  persuaded  to  lie  with  the  bandage  over  their 
eyes  throughout  the  experiment.  Experience  proved 
the  opposite.  Their  negative  reaction  to  the  bandage, 
if  violence  of  behavior  be  a  just  criterion,  was  far 
greater  than  their  positive  reaction  to  the  sweet  fed 
to  them.     Two  of  them   cried   out   at   first  when   the 


PRELBIINARY  EXPERIMENTS         115 

bandage  was  put  on  and  all  of  the  others,  even  the 
very  lowest  grade  ones,  tried  to  get  it  off  after  they 
had  been  fed  and  lain  a  little  while. 

Since  the  difference  in  reactions  is  marked  in  a  quali- 
tative as  well  as  a  quantitative  manner  it  seems  best  to 
describe  the  results  by  the  individual  cases. 

1.  Leitha  was  a  little  girl,  aged  55  months,  born  in 
this  country  of  English  parentage.  Peculiarity  mani- 
fested itself  through  bumping  of  the  head,  crying  and 
convulsive  muscular  attacks,  etc.,  between  the  ages  of 
one  and  two.  She  walked  at  25  months  but  her  gait 
is  still  straddling  and  uncertain.  She  has  so  far  not 
formed  any  habits  of  cleanliness,  does  not  talk  and  has 
to  be  fed  with  a  spoon.  Indeed  if  she  is  hungry  and 
food  is  on  the  table  within  reach  she  docs  not  know 
enough  to  take  it.  She  does  not  seem  to  recognize  the 
nurses  who  are  with  her  the  whole  time.  She  has  been 
diagnosed  as  a  low-grade  idiot  with  a  mentality  of  less 
than  one  year.  She  has  not  improved  since  these  ex- 
periments were  made. 

I  began  trying  to  develop  a  conditioned  opening  of 
the  mouth  through  excluding  light  by  a  bandage  with 
a  cutaneous  stimulation  upon  the  right  arm  above  the 
elbow.  At  first  she  was  rather  restless  and  grew  mark- 
edly so  if  the  bandage  was  kept  on  after  she  was  fed 
and  had  eaten  the  candy.  Ten  trials  were  given  the 
first  day  without  the  slightest  indication  of  an  associa- 
tion having  been  made.  On  the  next  day  she  lay  quiet 
for  the  first  two  trials  and  on  the  third  trial  opened 
her  mouth,  grinding  her  teeth  and  said  "eh-ah"  before 
she  was  fed.  This  was  repeated  the  fourth  time,  so 
the  conditioned  association  had  been  developed  in  14 
trials. 

The  conditioned  reflex  was  stimulated  and  functioned 


116  ,  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

without  defect  six  more  times  that  day,  marking  10 
trials  in  all,  then  the  child  was  allowed  to  rest.  The 
reaction  was,  however,  to  the  application  of  the  band- 
age before  cutaneous  stimulation  was  applied  and  so 
during  the  rest  of  the  work  upon  her  the  bandage  alone 
was  used. 

Twenty-four  hours  later  the  procedure  was  repeat- 
ed. The  first  trial  she  was  quiet  but  on  the  second 
trial  she  at  once  began  smiling,  making  noises  and 
opening  her  mouth.  This  happened  on  three  successive 
trials. 

After  another  forty-eight  hours,  when  the  process 
was  again  tried,  there  was  no  response  upon  the  first 
two  trials  but  upon  the  third  trial  she  opened  her 
mouth  after  nearly  ten  seconds  of  stimulation  by  the 
bandage,  similarly  on  the  fourth  trial,  while  on  the 
fifth  trial  she  began  smacking  her  lips  as  soon  as  the 
bandage  was  put  over  her  eyes. 

She  was  allowed  to  rest  4  days  and  then  the  ex- 
periment was  repeated.  The  child  was  not  in  good 
condition  for  the  work.  She  was  very  restless  and  con- 
tinually falling  into  the  masturbating  movements  char- 
acteristic of  idiots,  grinding  her  teeth  at  the  same  time. 
She  seemed,  however,  to  react  positively  upon  the  sev- 
enth trial  and  this  is  probably  accurate  as  there  was 
no  difficulty  in  deciding  that  she  had  not  reacted  posi- 
tively before  and  as  this  seeming  reaction  was  present 
in  three  succeeding  trials. 

Twenty-four  hours  later  six  trials  were  necessary  for 
functioning  and  this  functioning  continued  through 
the  four  succeeding  trials  given  on  that  day. 

Forty-eight  hours  later  4  trials  brought  the  re- 
quired reaction. 

With  Leitha,  and  on  the  others  of  this  group  as 


PRELBIINARY  EXPERIMENTS         117 

well,  an  effort  was  made  to  keep  the  number  of  trials 
from  day  to  day  at  either  five  or  ten.  This  proved 
disadvantageous  and  was  not  tried  in  any  later  series. 
One  of  the  disadvantages  is  the  increased  difficulty  in 
calculating  the  number  of  trials  necessary  for  memo- 
rial functioning  and  saving.  To  do  this  we  must  count 
all  the  trials  after  the  proper  functioning  on  a  given 
day  and  add  them  to  the  number  required  for  func- 
tioning upon  the  next  day  in  order  to  get  the  full 
series. 

If  we  do  this  with  the  data  obtained  upon  Leitha  we 
have  the  following  results : — 

For  Learning  the  number  of  trials  required  is  14. 
For  Memory  the  number  of  trials  required  is  9  after  24  hours. 
For  Memory  the  number  of  trials  required  is  6  after  48  hours. 
For  Memory  the  number  of  trials  required  is  9  after  96  hours. 
For  Memory  the  number  of  trials  required  is  8  after  24  hours. 
For  Memory  the  number  of  trials  required  is  8  after  24  hours. 

If,  however,  we  disregard  the  trials  given  after  the 
conditioned  reflex  functioned  on  a  given  day  and  count 
only  the  number  of  trials  necessary  to  re-establish  it 
the  next  we  have  the  following  number  of  trials  re- 
quired : 

After  an  interval,  since  last  functioning,  of  24  hrs. — 3  trials  were  needed 
After  an  interval,  since  last  functioning,  of  48  hrs. — 4  trials  were  needed 
After  an  interval,  since  last  functioning,  of  96  hrs. — 8  trials  were  needed 
After  an  interval,  since  last  functioning,  of  24  hrs. — 6  trials  were  needed 
After  an  interval,  since  last  functioning,  of  48  hrs. — 4  trials  were  needed 

These  figures  vary  much  more  nearly  as  the  time  fac- 
tor, and,  although  any  deduction  is  merely  a  surmise, 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  habituation  of  an  idiot  child 
to  a  process  newly  acquired  is  not  greatly  helped  by  in- 
creasing the  number  of  times  the  habit  is  exercised  any 


118  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

one  day  but  that  functioning  at  short  intervals  is  more 
important.  This  agrees  with  the  conclusions  reached 
by  those  studying  the  relative  value  of  grouped  and  dis- 
tributed repetitions  for  learning  but  it  is  also  probable 
that  the  effects  of  fatigue  may  be  more  marked  lierc 
than  they  would  be  in  normal  subjects  or  adults  and 
so  render  the  last  trials  on  the  day  of  learning  rela- 
tively weak  in  effect. 

2.  Pasha  was  a  boy  about  50  months  old,  born  in 
America  of  Armenian  parentage.  He  is  a  helpless  di- 
plegiac,  not  able  to  move  much.  He  is  not  clean,  cannot 
feed  himself,  seems  to  be  able  to  understand  a  few 
words.  Diagnosed  as  an  idiot  with  a  mentality  of  one 
year.    No  improvement  since. 

Since  he  eats  only  liquid  food  he  was  given  sweetened 
water.  With  him  I  used  bandage  on  h'\  followed  by 
stimulation  of  upper  right  arm  with  camel's  hair  brush 
for  10'",  then  feeding  in  the  sixteenth  second. 

He  developed  the  association  between  bandage  and 
feeding  in  the  fourth  trial  but  from  the  fifth  trial  on  did 
not  begin  reacting  until  brush  touched  the  arm. 

The  results  obtained  with  him  were  as  follows : 

Length  of  interval  since  last  pre- 
vious trial  24  hrs.  48  hrs.  96  hrs. 

1st    2nd 
trial  trial 

Number  of  trials  needed  on  day 

of  new  trial  3        3       4        2 

Number  of  trials  of  over-learn- 
ing that  had  been  given  on  the 
day  of  last  previous  trial  4         2       2         1 

Total  number   of   trials   needed 

for  functioning  7        5       6        3 


PRELIMINARY  EXPERIMENTS         119 

Learning  to  associate  bandage  and  feeding  took  five 
trials  while  learning  to  associate  bandage,  binishing  the 
arm  and  food  took  six  trials.  The  memorial  function- 
ing took  a  varied  number  of  trials  in  the  different 
length  intervals  and  even  in  two  different  trials  after 
tlic  same  length  internals. 

3.  Ahil  was  a  boy  51  months  old,  born  in  America 
of  Russian  parentage.  He  was  a  seven-months  baby, 
is  spastic  in  both  legs  and  rather  microcephalic.  He 
is  unclean  and  does  not  feed  himself.  He  has  been 
diagnosed  as  an  idiot  with  a  mentality  of  between  one 
and  two  years  of  age.  He  showed  no  signs  of  improve- 
ment in  the  year  between  the  time  of  the  experiments 
and  his  death. 

Here,  also,  an  attempt  was  made  to  develop  the  dis- 
criminating reflex  to  the  cutaneous  stimulation.  Dur- 
ing the  ten  trials  on  the  first  day  no  response  to  the 
situation  developed  but  on  the  second  trial  the  next 
day  the  child  reached  up  and  tried  to  pull  the  bandage 
off  after  he  was  fed.  He  had  not  tried  to  pull  it  off 
before.  This  happened  throughout  the  rest  of  the 
trials  that  day.  There  was  no  reaction  to  the  bandage 
when  applied  nor  to  the  cutaneous  stimulation. 

After  twenty-four  hours  he  took  the  bandage  off  on 
the  second  trial.  Two  days  later  he  removed  it  on 
the  first  trial,  and  4  days  later  and  again  after  4  days 
he  removed  it  upon  the  first  trial.  Throughout  he 
showed  no  other  reaction  to  the  situation.  After  the 
experiment  was  finished  it  seemed  advisable  to  examine 
his  skin  sensitivity  with  the  result  that  we  found  him 
almost  completely  ansesthetic  and  even  analgesic,  ex- 
cept on  and  around  his  lips,  to  such  minimal  stimuli 
as  were  being  used  in  the  experiment.  The  motor  re- 
action of  removing  the  bandage  is,  however,  as  good 


120  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

as  any  food  reaction  for  the  study  of  the  learning 
process  and  shows  here  the  fumbling  but  sure  adjust- 
ment of  even  a  faulty  organism  to  environmental  con- 
ditions. Summarizing,  we  see  that  the  association  de- 
veloped in  13  trials  while  memorial  functioning  was  as 
follows : 

Length  of  interval  since  last 


experiment                              24  hrs. 

48  hrs 

.  96  hrs. 

1st      2nd 

trial    trial 

Number  of  trials  needed  to  es- 

tablish   functioning   on   day 

of  re-trial 

3 

2 

2         2 

Number  of  trials  of  over-learn- 

ing given  on  day  of  previous 

learning 

7 

2 

3         3 

Total  number  of  trials  given 

10 

4 

5         5 

Here  again  we  see  that  the  regularity  of  the  num- 
ber of  trials  given  at  each  sitting  interferes  with  a 
direct  study  of  the  number  required  for  actual  reten- 
tion and  probably  is  in  excess  as  the  association  is 
found  to  function  in  the  first  two  trials  after  2-  and  4- 
day  intervals  since  last  functioning. 

4.  Jorsi  is  a  boy  60  months  of  age,  American  born 
of  Italian  parents.  He  is  a  swarthy  youngster  covered 
all  over  with  fine  black  hair.  He  is  rachitic  and  the 
sternum  protrudes  sharply.  He  has  a  slight  lumbar 
scoliosis  and  enlarged  epiphyses  of  the  wrists,  elbows, 
ankles  and  knees;  has  also  umbilical  hernia  and  large 
tonsils  and  adenoids.  He  is  clean  and  feeds  himself 
with  a  spoon.  He  can  walk  by  pushing  against  a  chair ; 
plays  real  nicely  and  with  good  coordination  with  small 


PRELIMINARY  EXPERIMENTS         121 

objects.  Diagnosed  as  an  idiot  with  a  mentality  of 
1  ^  years  by  the  Binct.  (No  marked  improvement  be- 
fore death,  wliich  occurred  recently.) 

With  Jorsi,  also,  an  attempt  was  made  to  develop 
the  conditioned  reflex  to  a  cutaneous  stimulation.  At 
first  he  gave  no  reaction  except  to  try  to  get  the  band- 
age off  even  before  the  feeding,  then  on  the  ninth  trial 
he  lay  quiet  but  took  the  bandage  off  at  once  after  he 
was  fed.  This  happened  on  the  tenth  trial  also.  After 
twenty-four  hours  he  removed  the  bandage  on  the  sec- 
ond trial  but  not  until  the  third  trial,  or  thirteenth  in 
all,  did  he  open  his  mouth  before  he  was  fed.  Even 
then  this  reflex  functioned  irregularly,  being  firmly  es- 
tablished only  after  the  nineteenth  trial,  although  the 
reaction  of  removing  the  bandage  functioned  regularly 
after  the  twelfth  trial. 

After  another  24  hours  he  removed  the  bandage  on 
the  first  trial  but  opened  his  mouth  only  upon  the  sec- 
ond trial. 

Forty-eight  hours  later  both  mouth  opening  and  re- 
moving the  bandage  came  at  the  correct  time  in  the 
first  trial.  One  point  is  to  be  noted,  however.  At  no 
time  was  there  any  reaction  to  the  cutaneous  reaction 
as  distinguished  from  the  application  of  the  bandage. 
His  mouth  opened  as  wide  before  the  brush  was  applied 
as  after.     He  was  not  suffering  from  anaesthesia. 

Considering  the  development  of  the  association  be- 
tween food  and  removing  bandage  we  find  establishing 
it  took  10  trials,  while  that  between  bandage  and  feed- 
ing took  14  trials,  then  functioned  irregularly  but 
after  19  trials  is  fully  established.  The  memorial 
functioning  is  as  follows,  the  numbers  in  parentheses 
being  for  bandage-food  associations,  the  other  for  feed- 
ing-remove bandage  associations: 


122  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

Interval  since  last  experiment  24  hrs.  48  hrs. 

No.  of  trials  given  on  day  of  re-trial  2(3)  2(2) 
No.  of  trials  of  over-learning  given 

in  previous  experiment  "7(6)  3(3) 

Total  number  of  trials  used  9(9)  5(6) 

Jorsi  was  sick  when  the  time  came  for  a  96-hour 
trial  of  memorial  functioning  and  so  was  not  tested 
after  that  interval. 

5.  John  was  a  boy  about  36  months  old,  born  in 
America  of  Italian  parentage.  He  was  reported  as 
"peculiar  from  the  time  of  birth."  He  has  a  cleft 
palate  and  hare  lip  but  both  soft  and  hard  palate  have 
been  repaired.  He  does  not  walk  or  talk  but  feeds 
himself  with  a  spoon.  Is  diagnosed  as  an  idiot  with 
a  mentality  of  1  ^  by  Binet  and  as  probably  hydro- 
cephalic. He  has  since  died.  No  microscopical  findings 
are  as  yet  available  upon  any  of  the  three  who  have 
died  but  the  description  of  gross  physical  attributes  has 
not  been  reversed  by  the  autopsy  studies. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  develop  an  association  be- 
tween cutaneous  stimulation  and  feeding.  On  and  af- 
ter the  fifth  trial  he  reacted  to  the  application  of  the 
bandage  by  opening  his  mouth  with  mouthing  and  suck- 
ing movements.  After  three  more  trials  the  mouthing 
was  deferred  until  the  cutaneous  stimulation  was  ap- 
plied, or  the  first  type  of  association  was  formed  in  6 
and  the  second  in  9  trials. 

After  twenty-four  hours  the  cutaneous-feeding  asso- 
ciation functioned  on  the  second  and  successive  trials. 
After  another  twenty-four  hours  the  cutaneous-feeding 
association  functioned  at  once.  After  48  hours  the 
bandage-feeding  association  functioned  at  once  but  it 
took  five  trials  to  redevelop  the  cutaneous-feeding  asso- 


PRELBIINARY  EXPERIMENTS         12S 

elation.  After  96  hours  more  the  cutaneous-feeding 
association  functioned  immediately.  The  results  are  as 
follows,  figures  representing  bandage-feeding  or  band- 
age-open mouth  associations  being  in  parentheses: 

Length  of  time  since  last  ex- 
periment 24  hrs.  48  hrs.  96  hrs. 

1st    2nd 
trial  trial 

No.  of  trials  needed  on  day  of 

re-trial  3-2      5   (2)       2 

No.  of  trials  of  over-learning 

previously  given  1-2      3(3)       0 

Total  number  of  trials  inducing 

the  reaction  4-4      8(5)       2 

6.  Jock  is  a  boy  34  months  old,  American  born  of 
American  parents.  He  had  convulsions  when  about  18 
months  old,  but  probably  was  not  normal  before  that 
time.  What  is  known  of  his  parents  is  not  very  much 
in  their  favor,  being  merely  that  they  have  never  lived 
long  enough  in  any  one  place  to  have  legal  residence 
there.  The  child  is  somewhat  undersized,  does  not 
talk,  is  not  clean  in  his  habits,  learned  to  walk  at  two 
years  of  age  but  is  rather  unsteady  in  his  gait.  He 
feeds  himself  with  a  spoon.  Is  diagnosed  as  an  imbe- 
cile with  a  present  mentality  of  about  two  years. 

The  experience  with  the  preceding  cases  led  to  a 
modification  of  our  procedure  here.  No  use  was  made 
of  the  cutaneous  stimulation  at  first  but  an  attempt 
was  made  to  establish  the  association  between  the  band- 
age and  feeding,  the  bandage  being  kept  on  ten  seconds 
before  the  food  was  given. 

Only  five  trials  were  given  the  first  day  as  Jock  rather 


124)  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

disliked  the  bandage  although  he  seemed  to  like  the 
candy.  The  second  day  ten  more  were  given  but  with- 
out any  reaction  before  the  feeding.  On  the  third  day 
he  opened  his  mouth  anticipating  feeding  upon  the  sec- 
ond and  successive  trials,  making  18  in  all  for  the  learn- 
ing. Seven  more  trials  were  given  that  day,  all  with 
positive  reactions,  indeed  before  the  last  trial,  during 
the  play  interval,  he  managed  to  get  possession  of  my 
handkerchief,  put  it  on  the  bt'ck  of  his  head  and  opened 
his  mouth,  evidently  for  candy. 

After  24  hours  the  association  functioned  at  once 
and  was  strengthened  throughout  five  trials.  Then  in 
the  sixth  trial  for  that  day  a  double  procedure  was 
tried.  Period  a,  the  bandage  was  put  on  10  seconds, 
no  candy  given,  and  it  was  taken  off.  Period  b,  after 
5  seconds  it  was  put  on  again,  and  cutaneous  stimula- 
tion applied  at  the  same  time,  candy  being  given  at 
the  end  of  10  seconds. 

Immediately  after  this  first  trial  Jock  took  another 
brush  with  which  he  had  been  punching  holes  into  paper 
and  rubbed  his  own  arm. 

In  the  next  trial  he  stretched  out  his  arm  as  soon 
as  I  put  the  bandage  on  and  opened  his  mouth,  not  dis- 
criminating periods  a  and  b.  This  happened  in  the 
next  trial  but  in  the  last  two  trials  of  that  day  he  lay 
absolutely  without  reaction  in  both  periods. 

After  24  hours  he  reacted  only  when  touched  by 
the  brush  in  the  second  and  successive  trials.  In  the 
eighth  trial  for  that  day  he  developed  a  new  reaction. 
As  soon  as  the  bandage  was  put  on  he  would  stretch  his 
arm  out  towards  me,  although  in  stimulating  it,  it  had 
always  been  left  in  its  natural  position  alongside  his 
body,  and  then  after  it  was  touched  he  would  open  his 
mouth. 


PRELIMINARY  EXPERIMENTS         125 

After  twenty-four  hours  more,  when  tried  again,  he 
was  not  very  well  but  seemed  to  want  to  go  through  our 
game,  running  to  me  as  soon  as  he  saw  me  coming.  Dis- 
crimination seemed  lost  as  he  would  open  his  mouth 
before  as  well  as  after  the  cutaneous  stimulation.  His 
own  activity,  however,  showed  that  some  sort  of  an 
association  was  there,  for  as  he  sat  playing  on  the 
couch  he  put  a  handkerchief  on  his  head  and  tried  to 
rub  his  hand  with  a  pencil,  then  wanted  me  to  take  it, 
and,  when  I  did,  he  lay  down  and  opened  his  mouth. 

Two  days  later  no  reaction  was  obtained  which 
lacked  discrimination  and  this  correct  reaction  ap- 
peared also  upon  presentation  of  the  cutaneous  stimu- 
lation, and  to  it  only,  48  hours  after  this  first  48- 
hour  trial. 

7.  George  was  a  boy  73  months  old,  American  bom 
of  French-Canadian  parents.  He  was  a  seven-months 
baby,  his  mother  was  alcoholic  and  has  since  disap- 
peared, while  his  father  is  in  a  Home  of  Correction. 
The  child's  defect  was  noticed  at  one  year  of  age. 
He  began  to  walk  at  three  years  of  age.  He  says  a 
few  sounds,  feeds  himself  with  a  spoon  and  is  clean  in 
his  personal  habits.  Has  chronic  ringworm  of  scalp, 
masturbates,  is  very  nervous  and  excitable,  although 
usually  very  good  tempered.  He  talks  incessantly  in  a 
jargon  of  his  own,  tries  to  imitate  sounds  but  does  not 
attempt  a  systematic  use  of  even  the  few  words  he 
knows.  His  coordination  of  eye  and  hand  is  very  good, 
and  he  seems  to  notice  a  great  deal  in  his  environment. 
He  has  been  diagnosed  as  an  imbecile  with  a  present 
mentality  of  between  two  and  three  years. 

The  same  method  was  used  with  him  as  with  case  6. 
At  first  he  tried  to  remove  the  bandage  before  he  was 
fed  but  gradually  this  activity  disappeared  and  after  8 


126  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

trials  he  had  learned  to  remove  it  after  he  was  fed 
but  made  no  attempt  to  do  so  before  he  was  fed.  Not 
until  the  second  day  did  he  open  his  mouth  before  the 
feeding,  but  it  developed  in  the  first  two  trials  on  that 
day,  taking  twelve  trials  in  all,  but  on  the  second  trial 
that  day  he  stopped  removing  the  bandage  and  only 
re-developed  this  reaction  in  connection  with  opening 
his  mouth  upon  the  fifth  and  sixth  trials  of  that  day. 
After  that  the  series  worked  as  if  automatically.  I 
would  place  the  bandage  on  his  eyes,  his  mouth  would 
open,  I  would  give  the  chocolate,  his  hand  would  re- 
move the  bandage  and  then,  usually,  he  would  laugh. 

After  24  hours  this  series  functioned  once.  Then 
an  attempt  was  made  to  develop  the  inhibition  of  the 
mouth  opening  unless  the  cutaneous  stimulus  accom- 
panied the  bandage  by  the  procedure  of  alternation  used 
and  described  in  case  6,  Jock.  At  first  he  opened  his 
mouth  under  conditions  of  both  the  a  and  the  b  periods. 
On  the  eighth  trial  he  opened  his  mouth  once  when  the 
bandage  only  was  used,  then  closed  it,  opened  it  also  in 
b  of  that  trial  and  moved  his  arm  as  the  brush  touched 
it.  In  trials  nine  and  ten  he  did  not  open  his  mouth 
for  either  condition  but  as  he  made  no  attempt  to  re- 
move the  bandage  it  seems  obvious  that  he  in  some  way 
anticipated  food. 

On  the  first  trial  the  next  day  he  opened  his  mouth 
in  period  a  and  was  not  fed,  then  kept  it  closed  for  b. 
On  the  second  trial  his  reaction  was  the  same.  On  the 
third  trial  he  made  no  response  in  period  a  but  opened 
his  mouth  once  in  period  b.  In  trials  four,  five,  six  and 
seven  he  was  quiet  during  period  a  but  opened  his  mouth 
during  cutaneous  stimulation,  i.  e.,  period  b.  This  shows 
beautifully  the  various  stages  of  development  of  a  dis- 
crimination or  of  inhibition  to  one  group  of  conditioujs, 


tRELBIINARY  EXPERIMENTS         127 

mentioned  by  Krasnogorski.  But  this  seeming  discrimi- 
nation might  be  due  to  an  established  rhythm  of  no 
response — response,  consequently,  in  the  eighth  trial  the 
cutaneous  stimulus  was  given  at  once,  a  period  being 
omitted,  and  the  correct  reaction  appeared,  while  in 
trials  nine  and  ten  the  a  period  was  used  without  evok- 
ing response  which  functioned  correctly  in  the  h  period. 

After  24  hours  the  reaction  was  absent  from  both  a 
and  h  periods  for  two  trials  but  re-developed  in  h  in  the 
third  trial  with  the  addition  that  he  would  stretch  out 
his  arm  at  right  angles  with  his  body  and  say  "la-la- 
na-na"  before  the  cutaneous  stimulation  began.  This 
occurred  regularly  during  seven  succeeding  trials  given 
that  day. 

After  48  hours  there  was  no  response  upon  a  first 
trial  but  the  series  of  reactions  appeared  upon  the  sec- 
ond and  succeeding  trials.  On  the  fourth  trial,  before 
it  was  time,  he  lay  down,  tried  to  put  a  bandage  on  his 
eyes,  stretched  out  his  arm  and  opened  his  mouth. 
Forty-eight  hours  later  he  repeated  this  same  series  of 
acts  as  soon  as  I  began  working  with  him. 

This  series  convinced  me  that  the  mechanism  of  a 
conditioned  reflex  or  stimulus-reaction  association  could 
be  easily  developed  with  even  young  children,  but  also 
showed  that  the  conditions  were  more  complex  than  had 
been  supposed  while  the  variations  in  details  of  method 
loomed  up  as  innumerable.  But  before  attempting  to 
determine  just  which  points  would  best  repay  for  a 
quantitative  and  detailed  study,  another  series  of  pre- 
liminary experiments,  this  time  a  developmental  one, 
was  carried  out  upon  one  and  the  same  child. 

Partil  was  65  months  old  when  I  began  working  with 
him.  He  was  unusually  well  developed  physically  for 
his  age  but  very  nervous,  given  to  small  twitching  move- 


128  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ments  of  which  he  seemed  unconscious.  By  the  Binet 
tests  he  tested  7  *,  accomplishing  in  all  34  points.  On 
the  B ridges- Yerkes  he  scaled  32  points.  He  could  not 
do  the  Heal}^  Construction  Puzzles  A  or  B,  nor  the 
Foal  and  Mare  Puzzle  without  help.  The  School  Room 
Puzzle  he  succeeded  in  completing  but  with  the  blocks 
for  the  window  and  blackboard  spaces  interchanged,  nor 
did  he  notice  this  error  until  it  was  called  to  his  at- 
tention. He  learned  rapidly,  however,  and  did  all  of 
these  without  difficulty  when  given  a  second  trial. 

He  had  been  accustomed  to  having  the  bandage  of 
the  receptive  Marey  tambour  around  his  neck  while 
he  played  in  the  laboratory  and  did  the  various  form- 
boards,  also  to  having  the  bandage  over  his  eyes  at  ir- 
regular intervals  while  the  kymograph  and  chronome- 
ter, separated  from  the  couch  where  he  played  by  a 
screen,  were  kept  running  during  the  whole  fore-period. 

The  reaction  to  cutaneous  stimulation  with  the  eyes 
bandaged  was  first  developed  by  putting  the  bandage  on 
and  after  5  seconds  starting  the  cutaneous  stimulation, 
then  feeding  ten  seconds  later.  This  conditioned  reflex 
functioned  on  the  fourth  and  fifth  trials.  Then  work 
for  that  day  ceased.  After  24  hours  the  retention 
value  of  the  association  was  studied.  The  first  trial 
found  the  child  very  quiet,  on  the  second  trial  slight 
twitchings  and  openings  of  the  mouth  were  noticed 
while  on  the  third  trial  the  mouth  openings  were  very 
marked  and  breathing  was  heavy  enough  to  be  recorded 
in  the  curve  of  throat  and  mouth  openings.  That  the 
child  anticipated  candy  may  be  seen  by  his  question  as 
to  where  the  candy  came  from  which  he  answered  for 
himself  by  associating  it  with  the  black  kymograph  for 
he  said,  "Oh,  I  see,  that  (the  kymograph)  turns  and  it 
comes  out  of  there  (pointing  in  the  top)  and  you  give 


iPRELlMINARY  EXPERIMENTS         129 

it  to  me."  After  forty-eight  hours  the  association  func- 
tioned slightly  on  the  first  trial  and  markedly  on  the 
second  and  third  trials.  Owing  to  the  child's  going 
away  for  Christmas  work  stopped  at  this  point  and  was 
resumed  after  an  interval  of  25  days. 

While  I  was  adjusting  the  apparatus  the  first  day 
after  this  interval  Partil  said,  "I  know  what  that  feels 
like."  "What  does  it  feel  like.?",  I  asked.  "Chocolate," 
he  answered.  "Why".''  "I  don't  know."  An  attempt 
was  then  made  to  test  the  functioning  strength  of  the 
association  previously  established  between  the  cutane- 
ous stimulation  and  the  mouth  opening.  Upon  the  first 
trial  there  was  no  reaction  except  slight  general  move- 
ments of  the  body,  twitching  of  the  hands,  etc.  Upon 
the  second  trial  very  definite  mouth  openings  appeared 
but  they  appeared  in  the  period  before  the  tactual  stim- 
ulation, immediately  after  the  bandage  was  adjusted,  as 
well  as  in  the  later  period.  This  condition  persisted  in 
the  third  trial.  In  the  fourth  trial  the  reaction 
occurred  during  the  cutaneous  stimulation  only.  As 
the  child  seemed  very  tired  the  day's  experiments  were 
discontinued  at  this  point. 

After  24  hours  the  correct  reaction  occurred  upon 
the  first  trial.  Then  an  attempt  was  made  to  determine 
specificity  or  localization  for  the  cutaneous  stimulation. 
So  far  cutaneous  stimulations  had  always  been  applied 
to  a  definite  place,  i.  e.,  the  inner  side  of  the  right  arm 
just  above  the  elbow.  Now  the  same  place  on  the  left 
arm  was  also  stimulated.  The  stimulus  was  applied 
10"  on  the  left  arm,  then  10"  on  the  right  arm,  then 
the  child  was  fed.  The  first  time  there  was  no  reaction 
except  a  slight  opening  of  the  mouth  at  the  moment  of 
change  from  the  left  to  the  right  arm,  although 
throughout  the  child's  body  was  stiff  and  tense. 


130  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

In  the  succeeding  trials  5"  was  allowed  to  elapse  be- 
tween the  stimulation  on  the  left  and  right  arms  in 
order  to  reduce  any  shock  of  change.  On  the  first  of 
these  trials  there  was  no  reaction  except  a  slight  stiffen- 
ing and  extending  of  the  right  arm  before  the  brush 
was  applied  to  it,  then  a  very  faint  swallowing  move- 
ment after  it  had  been  applied  about  five  seconds.  On 
the  next  or  in  all  the  third  trial  for  specificity  there  was 
more  definite  reaction  but  only  to  the  correct  stimula- 
tion. The  indications  are  that  specificity  as  such,  at 
least  right-left  specificity  had  developed  with  the  con- 
ditioned reflex  itself,  although  all  reaction  was  tem- 
porarily inhibited  by  the  introduction  of  the  new  area 
of  stimulation. 

After  24  hours  specificity  in  reaction  occurred  in  the 
first  trial,  then  the  conditions  were  complicated  even 
more.  The  cutaneous  stimulus  was  applied  for  10"  to 
the  left  cheek,  with  a  marked  reaction.  Then  five  sec- 
onds of  no  cutaneous  stimulation  intervened  during 
which  period  the  reaction  persisted  but  gradually  di- 
minished, then  the  right  cheek  was  stimulated  for  10'', 
again  with  violent  reaction,  then  5''  intermission  fol- 
lowed and  finally  came  10"'  stimulation  of  the  right  arm 
without  any  reaction  except  very  heavy  breathing.  In 
the  next  trial  the  same  order  of  stimulation  prevailed 
except  that  10''  stimulation  of  the  left  arm  was  also 
introduced  between  the  stimulation  on  the  cheeks  and 
that  on  the  right  arm.  Reaction  was  marked  to  all 
stimulations  applied  except  to  that  on  the  right  arm 
to  which  there  was  no  reaction.  In  the  next  trial  the 
intermissions  were  omitted  to  shorten  the  series  and  10" 
stimulation  given  on  each  of  the  following  places — left 
cheek,  forehead,  right  cheek,  left  arm,  right  arm,  with- 
out arousing  reaction  to  any  except  the  jiew  area,  i.  e., 


PRELIMINARY  EXPERIMENTS         131 

the  forehead.  The  child  now  seemed  tired,  said  he 
wanted  to  go  up  stairs  and  see  the  toys,  so  only  one 
more  series  was  tried.  This  time  the  same  places  were 
stimulated  as  in  the  last  trial  preceding  but  only  2'' 
stimulation  on  each,  except  on  the  right  arm  where  the 
usual  10''  was  given.  No  reaction  occurred  except  to 
the  stimulation  on  the  right  arm  and  that  developed 
within  the  first  two  seconds. 

The  next  day  another  attempt  was  made  to  deter- 
mine specificity.  In  the  first  trial  there  was  a  general 
reaction  to  all  cutaneous  stimulation  of  cheeks,  fore- 
head and  both  arms.  This  persisted  in  the  second  trial 
and  was  accompanied  by  marked  tension  of  the  whole 
body.  In  the  third  trial  only  the  forehead  and  right 
arm  were  stimulated  and  the  reaction  was  much  more 
marked  to  the  arm  stimulation.  On  the  fourth  trial  all 
areas  were  again  stimulated  but  reaction  was  rather 
faint  except  to  that  of  the  right  arm  which  this  time 
was  very  violent. 

A  four  days  interval  now  elapsed  while  Partil  was 
away. 

On  the  next  day  of  experimentation  the  development 
of  specificity  of  reaction  was  again  undertaken.  On 
the  first  trial  successive  stimulation  of  the  left  arm, 
forehead,  right  cheek,  left  cheek,  right  arm  for  ten 
seconds  each  brought  absolutely  no  reaction.  Upon  the 
second  trial  reaction  occurred  to  all  except  stimulation 
of  the  left  arm.  Upon  a  third  trial  there  was  no  re- 
action to  touching  the  left  arm,  forehead  and  right  arm 
and  almost  none  to  the  stimulation  upon  the  cheeks. 
Upon  the  fourth  trial  there  was  reaction  only  to  stimu- 
lation upon  the  right  arm  and  this  reaction  was  accom- 
panied by  a  smile.  This  discrimination  was  not  abso- 
lutely perfected,  however,  but  in  the  fifth  trial  reaction 


132  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

occurred  to  the  forehead  stimulation  also,  while  com- 
plete discrimination  functioned  in  the  sixth  trial.  This 
fluctuation  is  most  interesting  in  connection  with  the 
following  information.  During  the  four  days  he  was 
away  Partil  had  been  to  visit  at  a  place  which  aroused 
an  old  phobia  that  he  had  had  from  the  age  of  two. 
Since  his  return  he  had  been  nervous  and  excitable,  had 
not  slept  well  and  had  refused  to  sleep  in  his  room 
alone. 

Two  days  later  he  seemed  to  be  in  far  better  condi- 
tion, although  he  was  not  yet  sleeping  well,  and  came 
again  to  the  laboratory.  Another  attempt  was  made 
at  determining  a  specific  reaction  to  the  cutaneous  stim- 
ulation. The  skin  was  stimulated  upon  the  left  arm, 
left  cheek,  forehead,  right  cheek  and  right  arm.  In  all 
seven  trials  were  given  that  day.  In  the  first  trial  the 
child  was  passive  except  for  a  very  faint  reaction  to  the 
stimulation  of  the  left  arm  and  left  cheek.  In  the 
second  trial  there  was  a  slight  correct  reaction  to  the 
touch  upon  the  right  arm.  There  was  no  reaction  at 
all  during  the  third  and  fourth  trials,  but  in  the  fifth 
trial  the  child  reacted  to  all  stimuli,  while  in  the  sixth 
and  seventh  trials  he  was  again  absolutely  quiescent. 

The  next  day,  after  the  first  night  of  real  rest  which 
he  had  had  since  his  trip  and  when  for  the  first  time 
he  had  consented  to  sleep  in  his  own  room,  specificity 
was  again  studied.  Upon  the  first  trial  all  five  places 
of  stimulus  application  were  used  and  all  were  reacted 
to  with  violent  twitchings  and  quiverings  of  the  body 
but  neither  here  nor  in  any  other  trial  made  that  day 
was  Partil's  mouth  opened  once,  all  reaction  being  vio- 
lent body  twitchings.  In  the  second  trial  only  the  left 
arm,  right  cheek  and  right  ann  were  touched  but  all 
gave  the  reaction.     In  the  thii-d  and  fourth  trials,  the 


PRELIMINARY  EXPERIMENTS         133 

whole  five  places  were  touched  and  both  times  the  re- 
action was  general.  In  the  fifth  trial  the  bandage  alone 
was  sufficient  to  give  marked  reaction  which  increased 
when  the  left  arm  was  touched  and  continued  about  the 
same  for  the  stimulation  of  the  right  arm.  In  the 
sixth  trial  there  was  no  reaction  to  bandage  or  the 
touch  upon  the  left  arm  or  left  cheek  but  only  to  the 
conditioning  stimulation  of  the  right  arm.  In  the  sev- 
enth trial  this  specificity  was  lacking  and  response 
occurred  to  the  bandage  itself  then  to  left  arm  and 
forehead  stimulation  as  well  as  to  right  arm  stimula- 
tion. Work  stopped  at  this  point  until  the  next  day 
when  four  more  trials  were  given  but  the  results  were 
all  still  non-specific. 

No  more  attempts  were  made  at  developing  speci- 
ficity of  the  skin  stimulus  but  instead  the  next  day  an 
attempt  was  made  at  the  development  of  inhibition  or 
unlearning  of  the  response  which  had  become  so  gen- 
eral. The  cutaneous  stimulation  and  bandage  were 
applied  ten  seconds  and  the  child  was  not  fed.  This 
was  repeated  at  the  same  three  minute  interval  used  to 
develop  the  reaction.  After  6  trials  the  child  was  quiet 
and  on  the  seventh  or  second  quiet  trial  he  was  again 
fed.  The  next  trial  showed  a  very  convulsive  reaction 
but  this  was  as  much  to  the'  bandage  as  to  the  bandage 
plus  the  cutaneous  stimulus. 

The  question  then  arose  of  developing  discrimination 
between  these  two.  The  bandage  was  at  first  an  indif- 
ferent factor  having  been  rendered  so  by  habituation 
to  it  without  feeding  but  during  the  series  when  an 
attempt  was  made  to  develop  specificity  the  stimulus 
reaction  had  irradiated  so  as  to  include  it.  This  sec- 
ondary association  must  next  be  broken  down  and  we 
attempted  it  as  follows.     The  bandage  was  put  on  ten 


134  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

seconds  and  no  feeding  was  made.  Then  after  three 
minutes  the  bandage  was  put  on  5'%  then  the  cutaneous 
stimulation  was  simultaneously  presented  for  10"  more 
and  a  feeding  was  made.  After  two  repetitions  of  the 
double  procedure  the  cliild  lay  perfectly  quiet  upon  the 
third  trial  while  in  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  trials  he 
reacted  with  increasing  volume  to  the  correct  conditions 
only. 

After  24)  hours  this  discrimination  was  tested  again 
and  a  rather  doubtful  reaction  occurred  to  the  bandage 
alone  the  first,  second  and  third  times  but  this  was 
entirely  lacking  the  fourth  and  fifth  times,  reaction 
occurring  only  in  response  to  cutaneous  stimulation. 

Thirty-three  days  later  Partil  was  again  available 
and  the  persistence  of  the  touch-open-mouth  association 
tried  again.  The  first  trial  there  was  no  reaction,  the 
second  time  there  was  a  vague  undifferentiating  reac- 
tion to  the  bandage  but  this  increased  when  the  cutane- 
ous stimulation  was  given.  The  reaction  was  still  gen- 
eral on  the  third  and  fourth  trials  but  occurred  only  in 
response  to  the  cutaneous  stimulation  in  the  fourth  and 
fifth  trials. 

One  more  series  was  attempted  with  Partil,  that  of 
the  development  of  a  memory  conditioned  reflex.  An 
auditory  stimulus,  the  ringing  of  a  metronome,  was  used 
for  ten  seconds  and  then  ten  seconds  after  the  ringing 
stopped  the  child  was  fed.  As  early  as  the  second  trial 
the  reaction  occurred,  but  it  occurred  during  the  ring- 
ing of  the  metronome.  Gradually  it  came  later  and 
later  after  the  initiation  of  the  auditory  stimulus  and 
finally  after  15  trials  was  delayed  until  the  metronome 
has  stopped. 

The  results  of  the  work  upon  these  eight  children  left 
no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  experimenter  as  to  the 


PRELEVIINARY  EXPERIMENTS         135 

feasibility  of  applying  the  method  of  conditioned  re- 
flexes in  the  study  of  young  children.  These  children 
had  been  approached  with  the  determination  that  their 
behavior  itself  should  be  made  the  controlling  factor 
and  should  be  allowed  to  lead  to  suggestions  for  modifi- 
cation of  technique  and  method.  The  necessity  of  mak- 
ing the  bodily  position  to  be  assumed  during  the  study 
indifferent  had  been  recognized  and  with  active  children 
who  could  not  be  kept  lying  down  the  whole  time  re- 
course was  had  to  a  game  of  lying  them  back  on  the 
couch  (upon  which  they  stayed  even  when  sitting  up) 
at  irregular  intervals  both  before  the  experiments  began 
and  in  the  intervals  of  the  experiment.  The  bandage, 
too,  could  probably  have  been  rendered  indifferent  in 
the  same  way  but  the  fact,  entirely  unanticipated,  that 
it  proved  such  an  important  factor  in  the  child's  re- 
actions suggested  that  the  Russian  insistence  upon 
simplification  could  be  carried  still  further  in  this  in- 
stance and  at  the  same  time  make  it  easier  for  any  one 
person  to  handle  the  various  factors  of  child,  bandage, 
stimulation,  feeding,  apparatus  and  time  control,  while 
it  also  simplified  the  number  of  possible  reactions. 
These  could  again  be  simplified  by  taking  off  the  band- 
age at  once  after  the  feeding  as  it  would  eliminate  the 
development  of  the  child's  successful  attempts  to  re- 
move bandage  after  feeding.  This  was  done  with  Partil 
and  in  all  later  experiments. 

The  trial  with  Partil  of  stopping  the  day's  work 
when  the  desired  reaction  was  once  obtained,  or  before 
if  fatigue  showed,  proved  far  more  commendable  from 
the  standpoint  of  evaluation  of  results  as  over-learning 
was  decreased  to  the  minimum  necessary  due  to  trials 
for  memorial  re-functioning. 

That  there  are  great  individual  and  probably  also 


136  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

developmental  differences  seems  evident,  while  there  is 
no  doubt  left  in  the  mind  of  the  experimenter  but  that 
innumerable  variations  of  the  method  may  be  applied 
to  the  solution  of  almost  any  problem  of  child  behavior. 

The  development  of  the  specificity  of  reaction  in  Par- 
til,  its  fluctuation  under  differences  in  number  and 
order  of  points  of  stimulation  and  in  indicating  neural 
disturbances  which  could  not  be  outwardly  detected  and 
were  not  understood  until  the  report  of  his  mental  dis- 
turbance was  afterwards  obtained,  the  evident  fluctua- 
tions due  to  fatigue  of  a  rather  neuropathic  organism, 
all  indicate  the  exquisite  sensibility  of  the  behavior  re- 
action here  studied.  The  transient  irradiation  of  in- 
hibition from  a  new  non-conditioning  point  of  stimula- 
tion to  the  old  formerly-functioning  conditioned  reflex 
is  in  itself  a  problem  of  high  speculative  interest. 

Although  the  results  are  only  indicative,  they  are 
positively  indicative  of  the  possibility  of  studying  in  a 
normal  fashion  hitherto  untouched  provinces  of  child 
development  and  a  quantitative  investigation  seemed 
next  in  order. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A   QUANTITATIVE    STUDY    OF    THE 
CONDITIONED   REFLEX 

THE  group  of  fifty  children,  which  was  practically 
all  of  those  under  seven  years  of  age  living  in  the 
village  and  which  included  in  three  instances  seven-year- 
old-sisters  of  younger  children,  is  in  some  senses  a 
selected,  in  others  an  unselected  group.  The  village  is 
healthfully  located  and  simply  because  it  is  surburban 
lacks  congestion  and  slums.  The  children  are  probably 
benefited  by  these  better  conditions.  Malnutrition  is 
not  a  problem  in  the  schools  and  is  recognized  in  the 
homes  in  the  several  cases  I  found,  being  seemingly  a 
condition  due  to  other  causes  than  lack  of  proper  feed- 
ing- 

The  home  conditions   of  the   children  do  vary   and 

although  the  variation  may  not  be  as  extreme  as  that 
which  would  be  found  in  a  large  city  yet  visiting  the 
homes  gave  data  which  was  most  enlightening.  On  one 
extreme  I  met  the  college  woman,  studying  her  children 
conscientiously  and  individually,  willing  and  able  to 
give  me  definite  characterizations  of  each  one,  knowing 
his  weak  as  well  as  strong  points,  interested,  too,  in  all 
children,  trying  to  establish  a  kindergarten  for  the  vil- 
lage in  the  hope  that  it  would  lead  to  more  genuine 
consideration  of  the  pre-school  child.  Then  there  was 
the  less  well-trained  but  intelligent  mother,  using  com- 
mon sense  in  letting  her  children  get  daily  lessons  from 

137 


138  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

life  through  helping  care  for  each  other,  encouraging 
Marie  to  dry  the  dishes  even  if  one  were  broken,  prais- 
ing Jackie  when  he  carried  away  the  grass  as  father 
raked  the  lawn,  too  busy  with  three  or  four  under  school 
age  to  be  theoretical  but  yet  appealing  to  me  in  more 
than  one  instance  for  advice  as  to  whether  James  should 
start  school  this  fall  or  wait  until  he's  fully  six  and 
nearly  seven,  making  cogent  observations  regarding 
school  hygiene,  play  and  teachers.  On  the  other  ex- 
treme were  those  homes  which  seemed  markedly  dis- 
tinguished by  one  peculiarity.  Although  the  houses  had 
at  least  the  conventional  three  rooms  on  the  first  floor 
they  were  not  in  use  as  in  the  other  homes.  The  front 
doors  were  closed,  the  front  porches  bare  and  entrance 
was  made  through  the  back  door.  The  family,  in  other 
words,  huddled.  It  ate,  dressed,  sewed,  played,  visited, 
in  the  kitchen.  The  members  were  living  under  slum 
conditions  when  they  were  absolutely  unnecessary  and 
even  in  the  warm  weather  were  seldom  found  outdoors 
if  we  except  the  playing  children  who  were  chased  out 
to  be  out  of  the  way.  From  the  standpoint  then  of 
home  and  social  environment  the  children  were  not  se- 
lected. 

As  regards  their  inheritance,  variation  is  again 
found.  Careful  observation,  carefully  verified,  showed 
the  following  conditions.  The  parents  of  most  of  the 
children  were  both  living  and  both  normal,  the  mother 
running  an  average  American  middle-class  home,  the 
father  working  steadily,  interested  in  his  family  and  his 
home.  In  one  instance  the  father  was  paralyzed,  had 
been  so  for  several  years,  due  to  a  clot  in  the  motor 
area  of  the  brain.  This  had  been  detected  by  X-rays 
and  was  due  to  a  sudden  hemorrhage  from  over-exer- 
tion.   He  had  always  been  rather  delicate.     In  another 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     139 

instance  the  mother  had  a  goitre.  In  another  the 
mother  had  insane  spells  resembling  psychic  epilepsy. 
In  these  spells  she  would  strike  and  beat  her  five-year- 
old  son  without  any  seeming  cause,  then  suddenly  pet 
and  nurse  him  to  make  up  for  it.  This  occurred  six 
or  eight  times  a  day.  The  woman  was  seemingly  intelli- 
gent, conversed  well  and  is  of  people  who  are  in  better 
circumstances  than  she.  The  husband  and  father  is  a 
feeble-minded  man  with  a  mentality  of  about  ten.  He 
works  steadily  but  cannot  even  be  allowed  to  drive  a 
team  for  his  employer  as  he  ruins  the  horses  through 
unintentional  misuse.  His  wages  are  doled  out  by  his 
eraploj^er  as  needed  else  the  wife  would  spend  them  all 
for  whatever  took  her  fancy  and  leave  the  bills  unpaid. 
In  another  case  the  mother  was  rather  neurotic,  suffer- 
ing from  intense  nervous  headaches.  In  one  other  case 
the  mother  was  that  easy-going  type  that  can  manage 
to  keep  a  family  alive  and  fed  due  to  delicatessen  and 
bakery  shops,  but  would,  we  feel,  make  a  failure  of  any- 
thing where  efficiency  was  demanded.  Whether  she 
would  be  classed  as  a  social  inefficient  is  a  doubtful 
question.  In  one  other  case  the  mother  was  very  large 
and  obese.  This  condition  was  accompanied  by  a  coars- 
ened skin  condition,  a  deep  mannish  voice  and  facial 
hair.  The  two  children  who  have  reached  adolescence 
have  at  that  period  developed  a  similar  great  stature 
and  obesity.  The  condition  does  not  resemble  a  pure 
acromegaly  but  one  would  suspect  a  definite  thyroid 
abnormality  with  its  concomitant  disturbance  of  other 
functions.  The  older  children  are  above  average  in 
their  school  accomplishments.  One  other  abnormality 
was  noticed.  This  is  probably  the  sort  of  thing  that 
would  never  be  detected  in  a  survey  by  one  not  on 
intimate  terms  with  some  members  of  the  community. 


140  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

It  is  the  thing  that  the  village  gossips  did  not  talk 
about  and  this  seemed  surprising  at  first,  but  rather 
gives  corroborative  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  condi- 
tion not  only  exists  but  exists  to  the  extent  found  by 
the  investigator,  escaping  comment  just  because  of  its 
prevalence.  Among  the  fifty  children  tested  the  history 
was  obtained  that  4  of  them  were  the  children  born  of 
"forced"  marriages,  while  the  mother  of  another  one  is 
reported  as  having  been  exceedingly  immoral  since  mar- 
riage. The  fact  that  in  all  but  one  of  these  instances 
discrepancies  of  the  same  sort  are  reported  in  other 
branches  of  the  family  living  in  other  villages  indicates 
the  truth  of  the  findings.  Whether  the  condition  is 
unusual  or  just  due  to  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  situation  than  is  usually  acquired  cannot  be  de- 
termined here. 

Turning  now  to  consideration  of  the  children  them- 
selves let  us  study  them  quantitatively. 

The  following  mathematical  evaluations  of  the  meas- 
urements of  the  children  studied  have  been  made  and 
the  correlations  of  the  most  important  of  them  calcu- 
lated : 

1.  Chronological  age,  or  the  age  of  the  child  at  the 
time  of  the  experimentation,  expressed  in  months  to 
the  last  whole  month,  including  any  month  completed 
on  either  of  the  two  successive  days  upon  which  the 
child  was  studied. 

2.  The  first  process  of  the  modified  Krasnogorski 
experiments,  or  the  learning  ability  of  the  child  as 
expressed  in  the  number  of  trials  necessary  to  form  a 
sensory-motor  association.  The  assumption  being  that 
the  fewer  the  number  of  trials  necessary,  the  greater 
the  learning  ability. 

3.  The  second  process  of  the  Krasnogorski  experi- 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    141 

ments,  or  the  memorial  functioning  of  the  association 
learned  after  an  interval  of  twenty-four  hours,  meas- 
ured by  the  number  of  trials  necessary  to  obtain  its 
refunctioning,  fewer  trials  meaning  better  memory. 

4.  The  learning  value  of  the  retention,  or  the  sav- 
ing in  number  of  trials  necessary  the  second  day  as 
compared  with  the  number  necessary  the  first  day. 

5.  The  percentage  of  saving  in  number  of  trials 
saved  from  first  to  second  da3\ 

6.  The  third  process  of  the  Krasnogorski  experi- 
ments, or  the  number  of  trials  necessary  to  effect  un- 
learning: of  the  associative  act  learned  when  condition- 
ing  stimulus  is  absent.  Here  again  the  actual  number 
of  trials  necessary  should  theoretically  be  fewer  the 
greater  the  intelligence  of  the  child. 

7.  As  the  number  of  trials  needed  to  develop  the 
unlearning  may  bear  some  relation  to  the  number  of 
trials  necessary  to  learn  the  original  association,  the 
relation  of  these  was  calculated  in  the  per  cent  of  trials 
necessary  for  the  learning  that  was  used  in  bringing 
about  the  unlearning,  \^^lether  a  low  percentage  indi- 
cates higher  intelligence  or  not  remains  to  be  seen.  If 
the  supposition  expressed  in  number  six  is  true,  then 
the  same  should  hold  in  this  case. 

8.  The  fourth  process  of  the  modified  Krasnogor- 
ski experiments,  or  the  number  of  trials  necessary  to 
correct  the  unlearning  developed  and  to  restore  the 
re-functioning  of  the  first  association.  Here  again  the 
number  of  trials  should  be  less,  according  to  theory, 
the  greater  the  child's  intelligence. 

9.  The  mental  age  of  the  child  as  expressed  by  his 
ability  measured  upon  the  Binet  scale.  These  evalua- 
tions were  not  made  in  years  but  the  actual  number  of 
points  upon  which  the  child  succeeded  was  counted. 


U2  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

10.  The  mental  age  of  the  child  as  expressed  by  his 
ability  measured  upon  the  Bridges-Yerkes  scale.  Here 
again  the  evaluation  was  not  transposed  into  years  of 
mental  age  but  left  in  the  total  number  of  points  with 
which  the  child  was  credited. 

11.  The  number  of  seconds  the  child  required  to 
complete  putting  all  the  blocks  into  the  Seguin  Form 
Board,  taken  upon  the  first  trial  upon  which  the  child 
succeeded  without  help,  three  trials  being  given  if 
necessary. 

12.  The  number  of  seconds  required  to  complete 
the  Form  Board  in  the  best  of  the  three  trials  given 
the  first  day. 

13.  Improvement  upon  the  Form  Board  upon  the 
first  day,  being  the  saving  in  number  of  seconds  from 
the  first  trial  to  the  best  of  the  three  given. 

14.  The  percentage  of  the  original  time  saved  in 
the  best  trial  made  upon  the  first  day.  This  seems  to 
be  a  measure  of  the  learning  ability  of  the  child. 

15.  The  improvement  in  number  of  seconds  saved 
from  the  best  trial  made  on  the  first  day  to  the  first 
trial  made  upon  the  second  day. 

16.  The  improvement  in  number  of  seconds  saved 
upon  the  Form  Board  from  the  best  trial  the  first  day 
to  the  best  trial  the  second  day. 

17.  The  percentage  of  improvement  made  upon  the 
Form  Board  from  the  best  trial  of  the  first  day  to 
the  best  trial  of  the  second  day. 

18.  Success  upon  the  Goddard  Adaptation  Board 
as  measured  by  the  number  of  turns  successfully  com- 
pleted out  of  the  four  possible  successes. 

19.  The  standing  height  of  the  child  as  expressed 
in  millimeters. 

SO.     The  sitting  height  of  the  child  as  expressed  in 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    143 

millimeters. 

21.  The  standing-sitting  height  index,  or  the  stand- 
ing height  in  millimeters  divided  by  the  sitting  height 
in  millimeters. 

22.  The  weight  of  the  child  as  expressed  in  kilo- 
grams. 

23.  The  weight-height  index,  or  the  weight  in  kilo- 
grams divided  by  the  standing  height  in  centimeters. 

24.  The  dynamometer  ability  of  the  right  hand,  ex- 
pressed in  kilograms. 

25.  The  dynamometer  ability  of  the  left  hand,  ex- 
pressed in  kilograms. 

26.  The  average  dynamometer  ability,  expressed 
in  kilograms. 

27.  The  grip-ability — height  index,  being  the  aver- 
age dynamometer  ability  in  kilograms  divided  by  the 
height  in  centimeters. 

28.  The  grip-ability — weight  index,  being  the  aver- 
age dynamometer  ability  in  kilograms  divided  by  the 
weight  in  kilograms. 

29.  The  spirometer  ability  of  the  child  as  expressed 
in  liters. 

30.  The  spirometer-ability — height  index,  being  the 
spirometer  ability  in  liters  divided  by  the  height  in 
centimeters. 

31.  The  so-called  vital  index  or  the  spirometer 
ability  in  liters  divided  by  the  weight  in  kilograms. 

Any  further  or  more  detailed  discussion  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  these  various  measurements  will  be  left 
until  we  consider  the  significance  of  their  relations  to 
each  other. 

The  interpretation  of  these  correlations  is,  however, 
not  so  simple  as  it  may  seem  at  first.  In  social  sta- 
tistics we  are  usually  concerned  with  trying  to  find  how 


144  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

far  two  elements,  two  conditions,  are  correlated  and 
the  mathematical  expression  which  gives  us  this  in- 
formation is  in  itself  understandable.  In  this  study, 
also,  we  wish  to  know  in  how  far  these  various  measure- 
ments are  correlated  but  that  is  only  half  of  our  task. 
In  order  to  evaluate  the  correlations  that  we  may  find 
it  is  necessary  to  know  in  how  far  the  arrays  should 
be  correlated,  provided  they  were  the  expressions  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  methods  of  mental  examination 
which  were  infallibly  correct  in  their  diagnosis  of  nor- 
mality, defect,  and  genius. 

If  we  had  any  such  measure,  indicating  the  various 
differences  in  mentality  as  correctly  as  the  stadiometer 
indicates  indifferences  in  height,  the  distribution  of  any 
unselected  group  measured  by  it  would  probably  take 
the  same  characteristic  form  as  the  distribution  of 
other  anthropometric  characteristics,  that  is,  it  would 
be  a  Gaussian  distribution.  There  would  be  this  dif- 
ference, however.  In-so-far  as  it  is  harder  for  any  one 
to  reach  and  surpass  the  ability  expected  of  him  than 
it  is  for  him  to  remain  intellectually  dormant  and  fall 
farther  and  farther  behind  the  constantly  increasing 
norm,  we  might  expect  the  distribution  to  be  somewhat 
skewed  towards  the  side  of  mental  superiority. 

This  curve  skewed  towards  the  upper  end  is  the  typ- 
ical curve  that  has  been  found  in  many  studies  of  esti- 
mated intelligence  through  the  use  of  marks,  intelli- 
gence tests,  etc.  This  distribution  may  be  due  to  a 
lesser  range  of  variation  among  those  above  normal  or 
it  may  be  due  to  our  own  mediocrity  and  consequent 
inability  to  properly  discriminate  and  evaluate  those 
factors  which  really  indicate  superiority.  Whichever 
the  cause  this  study  does  not  claim  to  differ  from  any 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    145 

of  the  rest  and  will  consequently  make  use  of  the  skewed 
form. 

Goddard  (59)  found  such  a  distribution  in  his  study 
of  over  fifteen  hundred  school  children  tested  by  the 
Binet-Simon  scale.  Indeed,  he  uses  the  fact  that  the 
distribution  is  such  as  a  proof  that  the  scale  is  an 
accurate  one.  Whether  this  is  so  or  not,  nevertheless, 
it  is  true  that  the  distribution  is  such  a  one  as  we 
would  expect  to  find  with  a  scale  well-nigh  perfect. 
This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  any  imperfections  in 
the  scale  are  not  general  but  pertain  to  perhaps  more, 
perhaps  fewer,  of  the  individual  tests.  In  the  general 
findings  these  errors  compensate  for  each  other  and 
give  fairly  accurate  results  although  the  individual  find- 
ings may  be  more  or  less  unfair.  Moreover,  any  errors 
due  to  the  functioning  of  the  personal  equation  of  an 
examiner  are  here  probably  balanced  by  the  like  errors 
of  other  examiners  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  so  we 
have  used  the  data  presented  by  him  in  the  table  on 
page  234  to  calculate  the  correlation  coefficient  of 
mental  and  chronological  age  when  its  expression  takes 
the  form  of  a  Gaussian  distribution.  The  value  of  this 
coefficient  proved  to  be  -f-  0.808.  Using  this  coefficient 
for  the  sake  of  rough  comparison  we  shall  be  able  to 
tell  more  exactly  than  by  the  use  of  the  actvial  corre- 
lations alone  the  significance  of  the  various  relations 
found. 

The  following  coefficients  of  correlation  have  been 
calculated  by  the  product  method. 

What  is  the  significance  of  these  findings.?  A  sepa- 
rate discussion  of  each  one  is  not  necessary  but  those 
which  seem  the  most  important  deserve  further  analysis. 

According  to  chronological  age  the  distribution  of 
the  fifty  children  tested  is  as  follows: 


N 

00 

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Mm 

STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    147 


Age  in  mos. 

Boys 

Girls 

Totals 

12-23 

% 

s 

5 

24-35 

5 

^ 

7 

36-47 

3 

3 

6 

48-59 

4 

8 

12 

60-71 

4 

4 

8 

72-83 

6 

3 

9 

84-89 

0 

3 

3 

Totals  24  26  50 

The  predominance  of  girls  is  to  be  regretted  but  is 
due  simply  to  the  sex  ratio  in  the  village  studied. 

First,  the  number  of  trials  necessary  for  the  forma- 
tion of  an  association  between  stimulus  and  mouth 
opening  for  food  does  not  vary  sufficiently  with  the 
different  chronological  ages  to  have  a  sufficient  value 
for  indicating  with  a  high  degree  of  accuracy  the 
differences  of  learning  ability  at  the  different  chrono- 
logical ages,  if  such  differences  exist.  The  correlation 
coefficient  or  r  of  the  number  of  trials  with  chrono- 
logical age  is  only  —  0.571  while  in  our  criterion  of  a 
sufficiently  high  value  in  a  Gaussian  distribution  r  is 
plus  or  minus  about  0.80. 

Let  us  turn,  however,  to  the  original  data  and  inspect 
it  further.  We  find  that  the  number  of  trials  required 
by  the  various  children  ranges  from  nine  to  three.  As 
two  correct  trials  were  required  before  the  association 
was  counted  as  learned,  and  as  one  additional  trial,  the 
initial  one,  was  needed  to  introduce  the  situation  and 
replace  a  verbal  Aufgabe,  three  is  the  smallest  possible 
number  of  trials  in  which  a  child  could  develop  the 
correct  functioning  of  the  association.  Krasnogorski 
uses  the  first  correct  response  as  indicating  learning. 


148  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

however,  and  so  the  records  of  all  these  cases,  accord- 
ing to  his  estimation,  would  lie  within  the  range  of  two 
to  eight  trials.  Krasnogorski  (100)  reports  that  two 
to  ten  trials  are  sufficient.  The  difference  in  the  upper 
limit  of  the  range  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  he  used 
younger  children  than  those  twelve  months  old  who  were 
the  youngest  used  by  the  experimenter  in  the  present 
study,  or  to  time  differences,  or  may  be  those  varia- 
tions due  to  differences  in  the  strength  of  stimuli, 
method  of  presentation,  or,  as  is  quite  likely,  to  the 
differences  between  children  being  handled  by  a  man 
and  by  a  woman. 

If  we  analyze  the  data  for  the  number  of  trials  re- 
quired by  the  children  of  different  chronological  ages, 
using  whole  years  because  of  the  small  number  of  cases, 
the  following  results  are  obtained : 


No.  of  Cas 

es        Age     No.  of  Trials  {At 

'.)  Range 

Mean  Var, 

5 

12-23 

8.0 

7-9 

0.8 

7 

24-35 

6.71 

6-8 

0.82 

6 

36-47 

5.33 

3-8 

1.44 

12 

48-59 

3.83 

3-5 

0.83 

8 

60-71 

4.12 

3-5 

0.44 

9 

72-83 

5.0 

3-7 

1.11 

3 

84-89 

4.3 

4-5 

0.44 

These  results  may  be  seen  expressed  in  curves  on 
Chart  I. 

It  is  clearly  to  be  seen  that  up  until  the  age  of  five 
the  number  of  trials  necessary  for  the  formation  of  the 
conditioned  association  decreases  rather  regularly  as 
the  chronological  age  of  the  child  increases.  Above 
this  the  curve  is  not  only  less  regular  but  the  range 
of  trials  necessary  for  any  one  age  is  also  greater  than 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     149 

for  the  ages  just  preceding.  This  can  hardly  be  due 
to  any  great  difference  in  the  ability  of  the  older  chil- 
dren as  a  group,  for  they  were  in  most  instances  (in  15 
out  of  20)  the  older  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  younger 
children  used.  It  may  be  possible  that  we  have  here 
a  symptom  of  an  innate  difference  of  different  periods 
of  development.     The  older  child  may  see  or  imagine, 

CKARl    1.         RELATION  OF  LEARNING  TO   CHROHOLOCI  CAL   AGE. 


9 

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', 

8 

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> 

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rM  r-  lO 


Chronolcgical  age  expressed  in  months, 

because  of  his  greater  experience,  and  consequent  great- 
er potentiality  of  associations,  possibilities  of  varia- 
tion in  the  procedure  to  which  the  younger  child  is 
oblivious,  being  absolutely  sure  after  he  has  been  fed 
candy  under  a  given  condition  once  or  twice  that  it  will 
appear  again  under  like  conditions.  Genetically  viewed, 
this  difference  may  be  as  significant  as  a  mark  of  old 
stages  of  development  as  are  the  differences  recognized 
to-day  between  the  adolescent  and  the  pre-adolescent. 
Calculating  the  correlation  coefficient  for  the  num- 


150  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ber  of  trials  necessary  for  the  formation  of  the  asso- 
ciation with  chronological  age  for  the  children  under 
60  months  of  age  we  obtain  r.  equals  —  0.816.  As  the 
one  is  a  decreasing  array  and  the  other  an  increasing 
one,  the  relation  is  a  positive  one  and  comparison  with 
the  coefficient  of  the  high  value  Gaussian  distribution 
assumed  as  a  tentative  norm,  0.808,  indicates  that  it 
has  undoubted  value  as  a  basis  for  distribution.* 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  no  child  over  two 
years  of  age  needed  more  than  eight  trials  while  none 
under  that  age  used  less  than  seven,  none  under  three 
years  needed  less  than  six,  while  the  minimum  number, 
three,  was  all  that  were  required  by  a  child  in  the  fourth 
year.  Out  of  the  fifty  children,  regardless  of  age,  ten 
needed  only  three  trials,  eleven  needed  four  trials,  eleven 
used  five  trials  while  only  seven  needed  six,  five  needed 
seven,  four  needed  eight  and  two,  nine  trials. 

If  we  analyze  this  data  still  further  and  consider  the 
sexes  separately  we  see  that  there  is  in  sex  yet  another 
factor  determining  differences  in  the  rate  of  learning. 
This  shows  in  the  table  following  although  some  of  the 
differences  are  obscured  by  the  age  grouping. 

Age  in      Av.  No.  of  Trials  Mean 

No.  of  Cases  Months         for  Learning  Range  Var. 

Boys     2  ]  ^g  gg  f  7.0  7  0.00 


Girls     3  J  \  8.7  8-9  0.43 

Boys     5  1  g^  g^  f  6.4  6-8  0.64 


Girls     2  J  [  7.5  7-8  0.50 

Boys     3  ]  ^^  ,^  6.33  4-8  1.59 

-^  '  36-47  ' 


Girls     3  J  [  4.33  3-5  0.89 

*  Some  such  criterion  of  the  correct  value  of  r  must  be  assumed 
when  diagnostic  norms  are  being  studied.  An  r  too  near=fcl  means 
that  the  factors  under  observation  correlate  too  highly  for  the  one 
to  be  used  in  selecting  variants  from  a  group  which  will  not  vary 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     151 


No.  of  Cases 

Age  in 
Months 

Av.  No.  of  Trials 
for  Learning 

Range 

Mean 
Var. 

Boys     4 

Girls     8 

48-59 

4.50 
3.50 

3-5 
3-5 

0.75 
0.62 

Boys     4 
Girls     4 

60-71 

1  4.50 
1  3.75 

4-5 
3-4 

0.50 
0.38 

Boys     6 
Girls     3 

72-83 

4.67 
5.67 

3-6 

4-7 

1.11 
1.11 

Boys     0 
Girls     3 

84-89 

4.33 

4-5 

0.44 

Expressed  as  a  curve  for  the  purpose  of  easier  com- 
parison, this  table  gives  the  distribution  seen  on  Chart 
II. 

Pursuing  the  analysis  we  find  that  almost  without 
exception  the  average  age  of  the  boys  decreases  as  the 
number  of  trials  necessary  for  learning  increases.  With 
the  girls,  however,  the  age-learning  relation  is  much 
less  definite.  The  mode  for  learning  with  the  boys  is 
at  five  trials  while  for  the  girls  it  is  at  four,  although 
the  number  there  is  almost  equaled  by  the  number  learn- 
ing in  three  trials.  This  may  be  seen  in  the  following 
table : 


Relation  of  Learning  to  Sex  and  Age 

No.  of  trials  needed 
for  learning 3         4         5         6         7         8         9      Total 

No.  of  boys 3  3         7  6  3  2         ..       24 

Average  age. .. .      69       62.7     62.3     44.5     20.6     34.5 

No.  of  girls 7841222       26 

Average  age....     52.6     69.1     53.8     77.0     52.5     21.5     18.0 

in  the  other  factor  also.  For  instance,  a  mental  test  which  has  an 
r  of  =t  0.95,  or  so,  with  chronological  age  is  apt  to  indicate  an 
ability  so  dependent  upon  chronological  age  that  it  varies  with 
chronological  age  independent  of  actual  mental  ability. 


152 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


The  correlation  between  chronological  age  and  the 
number  of  trials  needed  for  memorial  functioning  of 
the  association  after  24  hours  is  —  0.065,  which  shows 
such  a  slight  decrease  as  the  age  increases  as  to  appear 
negligible.  Again  recourse  to  our  actual  figures  may 
be  helpful.  Since  two  trials  were  required  before  the 
association  was  counted  as  functioning  that  is  the 
smallest  number  that  could  be  used.  Thirty-six  of  the 
fifty  children  gave  a  positive  reaction  on  the  first  and 

CHAIiT II .      RELATION  OS  LEARNIHG  TO   CHKOM.   AGE  AND  SEX. 


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Chronological  age  expressed  In  months. 

second  trials,  9  on  the  second  and  third  trials,  while 
one  took  4  trials,  two  required  five,  one  needed  six  and 
one  seven  trials.  Evidently  in  most  of  them  the  asso- 
ciation was  so  firmly  developed  that  a  twenty-four  hour 
interval  had  not  reduced  it  sufficiently  to  bring  it  below 
the  functioning  limen.  Nor  is  the  distribution  of  those 
who  needed  more  than  two  or  three  trials  greatly  in- 
fluenced by  age.  The  one  who  required  seven  trials 
was  12  months  old  but  the  one  who  required  6  trials 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     153 

was  77  months  old  and  the  distribution  of  the  rest  was 
very  irregular. 

The  correlation  of  the  number  of  trials  needed  in 
learning  with  the  number  needed  after  the  2i-hour 
interval  is  +  0.22,  or  a  slight  indication  that  those 
who  needed  more  trials  for  learning  were  not,  as  is 
usually  supposed,  more  retentive  but  required  likewise 
a  greater  number  of  trials  to  re-establish  the  associa- 
tion. Some  interesting  relations  of  the  learning  and 
memorial  function  are  seen  in  the  following  table : 

Relation  of  Memory  to  Learning 

No.  of  Trials  Range  of  Trials    Ao.  No.  of  Trials      Mean 

for  Learning   No.  of  Cases  for  Remembering  for  Remembering  Deviation 

fBoys     3  2  2.00  .00 

8  i  Girls     7  2  2.00  .00 

[Both  10  2  2.00  .00 

Boys     3  2  2.00  .00 

Girls     8  2-5  2.50  .75 

Both  11  2-5  2.36  .59 

fBoys     7  2-6  3.29  1.04 

5  i  Girls     4  2  2.00  .00 
[Both  11             2-6             2.82               .89 

fBoys     6  2-3  2.33  .43 

6  i  Girls     1  2  2.00  .00 
[Both     7             2-3             2.29               .41 

fBoys     3  2-7  3.70  2.23 

7  ^  Girls     2  3-5  4.00  1.00 
[Both     5             2-7             3.80             1.76 

fBoys     2  2-3  2.50  .60 

8  }  Girls     2  2-3  2.50  .60 
[Both     4             2-3             2.50               .60 

9  Girls     2  2  2.00  ,00 


154  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

These  results  do  not  confirm  the  rather  generally 
accepted  thesis  that  the  greater  the  number  of  trials 
necessary  for  learning,  the  more  efficient  the  reproduc- 
tion, as  both  the  most  facile  and  the  slowest  learners 
are  more  efficient  than  those  intermediate  in  type. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  the  third  Krasnogorski  process, 
or  the  unlearning  of  the  previously  developed  associa- 
tion. It  was  found  impossible  to  effect  this  unlearning 
without  severe  emotional  disturbances  in  the  youngest 
nine  of  the  children  tested.  The  palliative  effect  of  the 
candy  in  the  learning  experiment  was  more  vividly 
understood  when  this  attempt  was  made  to  use  the 
bandage  and  not  feed.  Usually  the  second,  always  the 
third  or  fourth  trial,  brought  crying  and  no  further 
attempt  was  then  made,  chiefly  because  of  the  unfavor- 
able effect  of  the  crying  upon  the  other  children  play- 
ing near,  and  the  effect  of  reported  crying  upon  the 
mothers  of  the  community.  No  difficulty  was  experi- 
enced with  children  over  twenty-eight  months  of  age. 
The  group  in  whom  unlearning  was  developed  conse- 
quently includes  only  41  children  ranging  in  age  from 
29  to  89  months. 

The  average  rate  of  unlearning  for  children  of  the 
different  ages  and  sexes  may  be  seen  in  the  table  on 
page  155. 

From  this  we  can  see  that  there  is  in  general  a  de- 
crease in  the  number  of  trials  needed  for  unlearning 
as  the  chronological  age  increases.  The  average  num- 
ber of  trials  needed  by  boys  and  girls  of  the  same 
chronological  age  likewise  differs  considerably  and  there 
is  an  accompanying  difference  in  the  range  of  number 
of  trials  and  in  variability  in  the  two  sexes. 

The  correlation  between  the  number  of  trials  neces- 
sary to  effect  the  unlearning  and  chronological  age  is 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     155 

Range  MeanVar. 

5-8  1.11 

5-12  2.44 

9-10  0.44 

3-9  2.00 

5-11  1.63 

5-9  1.50 

7-12  2.00 

4-10  1.78 

4-7  1.11 

5-6  0.44 

—  0.316,  which  corroborates  the  fact  shown  by  the 
table  above  that  there  is  only  a  slight  decrease  in  the 
number  of  trials  needed  as  age  increases.  The  num- 
ber of  trials  necessary  to  unlearn  the  association  varies 
more  than  the  number  required  in  the  learning  of  it. 
The  distribution  frequency  is  as  follows: 

^riab  ?    3     4     6     6     7     8     9     10     11     12     Failures 


No.  of  Cases 

Age  in  Months 

Av.  No. of  Trials 
for  Unlearning 

Boys 
Girls 

.*! 

12-29 

j  Failure 
1  Failure 

Boys 

Girls 

i\ 

30-35 

|6.33 

Boys 
Girls 

i] 

36-47 

8.33 
9.67 

Boys 

Girls 

si 

48-59 

{7.00 

[8.38 

Boys 

Girls 

4 

4 

60-71 

6.50 
9.50 

Boys 

Girls 

I] 

72-83 

6.33 
5.33 

Boys 

Girls 

i\ 

84-89 

5.33 

required. 

3°/  }    1     2    10   4    4    6    5     5      2     2  9 


No.  of 
cases. 


This  table  indicates  a  double  distribution  in  the  rate 
of  developing  unlearning,  the  one  with  a  mode  of  5 
trials,  in  some  instances   approaching  in   ability   the 


156  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

minimal  limit  of  the  task,  the  other  type  more  variable 
among  themselves  with  a  mode  less  well  expressed  but 
lying  probably  at  8,  9  or  10  trials. 

The  extremes  of  number  of  trials  necessary  to  effect 
unlearning  are  those  mentioned  by  Krasnogorski  for 
although  he  makes  the  general  statement  that  it  de- 
velops in  5  to  10  trials  in  normal  children  he  also  says 
in  one  instance  that  the  association  broke  down  after 
three  trials  in  one  six-year-old  while  in  another  in- 
stance it  took  eleven  trials  without  stimulation  before 
on  the  twelfth  the  reaction  was  lacking.  But  as  there 
may  have  been  great  differences  in  method,  length  of 
stimulation  times  and  intervals  in  the  work  he  reports 
and  that  reported  here  this  coincidence  may  not  be 
assumed  to  mean  corroboration  of  the  accuracy  of  the 
findings  in  either  of  our  series.  If  he  used  only  one 
trial  without  positive  response  as  an  indication  of  the 
degeneracy  or  decreased  functional  efficiency  of  the 
conditioned  reflex  then  by  comparison  we  again,  as  in 
the  learning  process,  find  the  mechanism  more  easily 
developed  in  our  series. 

If  we  analyze  the  results  on  unlearning  in  their  re- 
lation to  the  number  of  trials  needed  in  the  original 
learning  we  find  r  equals  —  0.450,  while  in  the  relation 
between  unlearning  as  measured  in  per  cent  of  the 
learning  trials  it  required  and  learning  itself  r  equals 
—  0.774.  Tabularly  distributed  this  relation  may  be 
seen  on  page  157. 

In  general  the  greater  the  number  of  trials  that  was 
necessary  to  develop  the  conditioned  reflex  the  less  the 
number  required  to  break  it  down. 

If  we  analyze  these  results  stiU  further,  according  to 
sex,  we  find  the  distribution  for  either  sex  is  quite  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  other. 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     157 

Relation  of  Learning  to  Unlearning 

No.  of  No.  of  Trials  needed  io 

Cases       effect  Unlearning      No.  of  Trials  used  in  Learning         Av.  No 

3     4     5  6     7     8 

18  1                                 6 

«  4  1     1  6.5 

10                   6  2     4  3           1             5.4 

4                   6  1111                         4.5 

4                   7  3     1                               4.25 

6                   8  2     3                       1             4.3 

6                   9  3     11                               3.6 

6                 10  2           3                               4.2 

2                 11  11                                     3.5 

2                 12  1                       1                   5.0 

Average  No.  9.2  7.4     5  5     8  6.5 

Sex  and  Age  Distribution  with  Number  of  Trials 
FOR  Unlearning 

No.o/triaU/orUnUaming      3      4      5         6         7         8         9       10       11       12     F.* 

No.o/Boyt 116  223310         14 

No.o/GirU 14         223242         15 

At.No.of  trials  on  Learning 

Boyi «  6  5.8  «.5  4.5  5  4  3          ...  7  6.  S 

OirU 7  4.8  8.5  4  3.7  4.5.5  4.3      S.5  3  8 

Average  age.  Boyt 52  73  68.8  65.6  69  60.3  67  74  ...  36  20 

Girls 80  76.8  71.6  70.6  69  45  44.5  65.5  70  20.8 

•  F  =•  Failure*. 

The  range  of  distribution  of  the  boys  Is  wider,  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  trials  used,  than  is  that  of  the 
girls  although  the  opposite  was  true  of  the  learning 
process.  The  most  frequent  form  of  development  of 
the  unlearning  took  five  trials  with  the  boys  while  with 
the  girls  the  development  in  five  trials  and  development 
in  ten  trials  occurred  with  equal  frequency.  With  the 
boys  the  learning  rate  for  those  who  needed  five  trials 
or  less  for  unlearning  was  slower  than  it  was  for  any 


158 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


of  those  who  needed  more  trials  if  we  make  an  excep- 
tion of  one  case  who  took  twelve  trials  to  unlearn  and 
had  needed  seven  to  learn.  With  the  girls  the  number 
of  trials  for  learning  is  highest  for  those  needing  four 
or  five  trials  to  effect  the  unlearning  and  then  gradu- 
ally decreases  as  the  difficulty  of  unlearning  increases 
but  with  another  rise  in  learning  difficulty  for  those 
who  had  taken  ten  trials  to  unlearn  the  association. 


CHART  Ilia.        RELATION  07  LEAMIIBS  AKD  OHLEASUilBO  TO  CHROH.   AGE  AJTD  3ZX  (BOYS). 


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With  the  boys  we  have  an  almost  homogeneous  group, 
finding  less  difficulty  in  developing  unlearning  the  more 
slowly  they  learned  or  the  less  plastic  they  were  to 
receive  the  more  mobile  they  were  to  erase  or  modify. 
With  the  girls  we  have  one  group  learning  slowly  and 
unlearning  easily  and  also  a  group  learning  slowly  and 
unlearning  with  difficulty,  while  those  who  learn  more 
readily  unlearn  with  proportionately  increasing  diffi- 
culty. Have  we  here  in  these  early  differences  an  indi- 
cation of  conditions  which  later  lead  to  the  much  more 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     159 


frequent  nerve  disturbances  among  girls?  The  fact 
already  pointed  out  by  Krasnogorski  that  neuropathic 
cases  are  apt  to  unlearn  conditioned  reflexes  very  slowly 
seems  to  re-enforce  the  probability  of  any  such  an 
inference. 

Although  less  accurate  than  a  rough  polygon  would 
be,  Charts  III  a  and  III  b  show  more  clearly  the  rela- 
tions age,  sex,  learning  and  unlearning  hold  to  each 

CHART  Illb.        RELATION  OF  LEARNIilG  AND  UNLEARKING  TO  CHROS.  AGE  AITB  SEX  (GIRLS). 


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^^^      5      y'^ \lt 

^^^JL^^             ^f 

•  ••••  unlearning 

M   -«  lO  (0  O  ( 


Chronological  age  expressed  In  Bonths. 


other.  Above  6  years,  i.  e,,  72  months  of  age,  our  data 
is  too  scanty  to  enable  us  to  analyze  what  seems  to  be 
a  very  complex  matter  but  below  that  the  differences 
are  more  clearly  seen. 

Up  until  the  age  of  two  years  and  a  little  over  the 
girls  learn  more  slowly  than  the  boys.  From  the  age 
of  about  two  until  six  they  learn  more  rapidly  than 
boys  of  the  same  age  with  only  one  exception. 

Unlearning,  on  the  other  hand,  is  in  every  case  but 
one  harder  for  the  girls  than  for  boys  of  the  same  age 


160  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

up  until  six  years  of  age. 

The  fourth  mechanism  studied  was  that  of  re-func- 
tioning of  the  conditioned  reflex  which  had  been  un- 
learned. Krasnogorski  uses  the  term  "breaking-down" 
or  "degenerescence"  to  denote  the  process  which  I  have 
called  unlearning.  Those  two  terms  together  with  a 
consideration  of  this  fourth  process  itself  give  a  better 
insight  into  its  mechanism.  In  all  of  the  41  cases  in 
whom  the  destructive  effect  of  stimulating  without  feed- 
ing was  seen  the  unlearning  was  neutralized  and  learn- 
ing redeveloped  with  little  difficulty.  Two  successive 
reactions  were  necessary  to  be  sure  the  response  was 
not  accidental  and  in  38  of  the  children  the  first  two 
after  the  renewed  feeding  were  all  that  were  necessary 
as  they  reacted  positively  from  the  first  renewed  feed- 
ing. In  two  cases  three  trials  were  necessary  and  in 
one  case  four.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  two 
cases  needing  three  trials  were  both  over  six  years  of 
age  while  the  one  needing  four  trials  was  only  51 
months  old,  a  child  rather  above  usual  intelligence,  who 
formed  a  conditioned  reflex  in  five  trials  but  who  needed 
ten  trials  to  effect  unlearning. 

As  might  be  expected  from  this  uniformity  of  results 
correlation  of  redevelopment  of  learning  with  other 
functions  is  almost  lacking,  r  for  chronological  age 
being  only  -{-  0.081  and  the  highest,  that  with  the  num- 
ber of  trials  needed  for  memorial  functioning  of  the 
conditioned  reflex,  being  only  -{-  0.228  and  conse- 
quently insignificant. 

The  regularity  of  these  results  leads  to  a  different 
view  concerning  this  fourth  process.  It  is  not  the  re- 
building of  an  association  that  has  been  broken  down 
completely  although  reaction  is  completely  lacking. 
Instead  the  mechanism  of  unlearning  may  be  looked 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    161 

upon  as  a  process  which  reduces  the  strength  of  the 
association  just  far  enough  to  take  it  below  the  limen 
of  response  and  consequently  only  enough  new  asso- 
ciations are  needed  to  raise  it  once  more  above  the 
threshold.  It  seems  relatively  valueless  as  a  method 
of  studying  mental  processes  when  used  in  this  form. 
Undoubtedly  a  study  of  the  functioning  of  the  re- 
developed association,  comparing  it  with  its  primary 
functioning  before  modification  by  unlearning,  would 
throw  still  more  interesting  light  upon  the  relation  of 
the  learning  and  unlearning  processes.  At  least  the 
field  is  one  of  speculative  interest  although  the  results 
I  have  obtained  throw  very  little  light  upon  the  mental 
processes  of  the  cliild  in  this  respect. 

Before  making  any  further  analysis  of  these  pro- 
cesses it  will  be  well  to  study  the  group  from  the  stand- 
point of  other  tests  given. 

RESULTS    OBTAINED    BY    OTHER    TESTS 

In  evaluating  the  measurements  obtained  by  the  use 
of  the  Binet  and  Bridges- Yerkes  scales  all  calculations 
have  been  made  upon  the  total  number  of  points  gained. 
This  gives  one  a  chance  to  study  the  value  of  the  test 
series  apart  from  any  arbitrarily  determined  age  value 
which  has  been  assigned.  This  seemed  especially  im- 
portant for  the  Binet  evaluations  as  most  people  fail 
to  recognize  in  them  a  point  scale  from  which  the 
Yerkes  scale  differs  chiefly  in  that  it  has  selected  a 
limited  number  of  questions,  chiefly  from  the  Binet,  and 
has  then  made  a  higher  number  of  points  of  gradation 
possible  through  more  minute  qualitative  classification 
and  a  consequent  higher  evaluation  of  results  than  they 
were  given  in  the  Binet. 

The  correlation  between  chronological  age  and  Binet 


162  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

grading  is  -}~  0.949.  This  is  much  higher  than  the 
indicated  correlation  of  a  Gaussian  distribution. 
Whether  this  is  an  error  or  not  is  difficult  to  decide. 
The  tests  surely  do  not  pick  out  in  a  prognostic  man- 
ner any  large  number  of  deviates  from  the  norm. 
Whether  there  are,  however,  significant  deviations  pres- 
ent at  this  early  age  in  a  larger  proportion  of  children 
is  still  an  unanswered  question. 

The  correlation  of  the  Yerkes  evaluations  and  age 
is  -|-  0.893.  This  is  probably  a  more  highly  prog- 
nostic distribution.  The  inventor  of  this  scale  might 
justly  criticize  the  usage  of  it  on  the  younger  children 
since  he  states  (191,  p.  89)  that  the  scale  is  of  little 
value  below  the  age  of  three  years  and  seven  months. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  it  gives  a  rather  regular  distribu- 
tion, approximating  that  of  the  Binet,  between  the 
ages  of  two  and  four,  and  above  that  age  it  differs 
little  from  the  Binet  in  general  trend  but  because  of 
higher  evaluation  of  each  test  it  gives  greater  indi- 
vidual variations.  This  may  readily  be  seen  in  the 
following  curves  which  show  the  relative  achievement 
of  each  child  on  the  two  scales,  considered  with  respect 
also  to  chronological  age. 

An  analysis  of  the  ratings  by  the  Binet  or  Yerkes 
tests  based  upon  sex  brings  out  very  little  that  is  new. 
The  individual  cases  of  either  sex  are  now  higher,  now 
lower,  in  the  number  of  points  they  receive  credit  for 
although  in  general  children  of  about  the  same  chrono- 
logical age  seem  comparable  regardless  of  this  factor. 
But  with  such  a  small  number  of  children,  all  in  the 
period  where  a  few  months'  development  may  mean 
great  differences  in  the  ability  to  do  tests,  there  is  no 
adequate  basis  for  a  study  of  sex  differences.  The 
number  of  children  of  both  sexes  who  are  of  any  one 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    163 


chronological  age  is  too  small  and  too  irregularly 
divided  between  tlie  two  sexes  to  make  it  worth  wliile 
presenting  the  comparisons  in  detail. 

If  we  analyze  out  the  various  cases  falling  below  the 
general  level  by  either,  or  rather  by  both,  Binet  and 
Yerkes  tests,  since  in  all  the  grosser  instances  these 


CKARt 

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Oases  arranged  nwnerlcally  according  to   chronological  ago* 

coincide,  we  find  the  following  to  be  the  children  who 
deviate  the  most  (See  Chart  IV). 

Case  26,  female,  is  the  daughter  of  the  woman  de- 
scribed as  immoral  since  married.  The  child  to  a  clini- 
cian appears  dull  in  many  ways,  needs  to  be  told  things 
again  and  again  and  is  very  babyish.  She  is  undoubt- 
edly the  dullest  girl  studied. 

Case  38  is  the  son  of  the  feeble-minded  man  and  the 
insane  woman. 

Case  29  is  the  daughter  of  the  woman  with  goitre 


164  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

and  seems  to  be  rather  slow  about  doing  things  but 
does  not  seem  to  be  really  defective. 

Cases  28  and  35  are  brothers.  They  are  both  called 
dull  when  compared  with  their  older  sister,  case  50,  but 
although  below  their  compeers  are  not  feeble-minded  so 
far  as  can  be  determined.  They  are  of  normal  but 
rather  inferior,  slow,  easy-going  stock. 

The  relation  of  the  evaluations  by  either  of  these 
methods  to  the  Krasnogorskian  results  is  not  so  simple. 

If  we  stud}*"  the  mental  age  of  the  group  when  dis- 
tributed according  to  the  number  of  trials  they  used 
for  learning  the  conditioned  association,  regarding  also 
age  and  sex,  we  find  evidences  that  the  relation  is  very 
complex.  On  the  Binet  all  the  averages  for  boys  except 
for  those  taking  8  trials  for  learning  show  that  the 
Binet  age  increases  as  the  chronological  age  increases 
for  each  of  the  sub-divisions  according  to  the  number 
of  trials  needed  for  learning  and  that  in  any  group  of 
the  same  age  the  mental  age  decreases  as  the  number 
of  trials  needed  for  learning  increases.  In  the  two 
cases  taking  8  trials  for  learning  the  mental  age  is 
slightly  greater  than  for  those  taking  seven  trials  or  less 
but  this  variation  is  probably  due  to  chance  working 
upon  such  a  small  number  of  cases.  Also,  the  younger 
boys  tend  towards  slower  learning. 

Exactly  the  same  condition  holds  for  the  mental  age 
of  boys  calculated  by  the  Yerkes  scale  except  that  the 
differences  according  to  chronological  age  and  rate  of 
learning  seem  accompanied  by  greater  but  less  regular 
variations  in  mental  age. 

The  distribution  of  the  girls  on  both  scales  seems  far 
less  regular.  Under  any  one  of  the  groups'  formed  by 
division  according  to  the  number  of  trials  used  on  the 
learning  the  mental  age  increases  with  the  chronological 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     165 

age,  except  in  the  group  requiring  four  trials  which 
includes  at  the  points  marked  °  the  two  brightest  chil- 
dren for  their  ages  that  were  tested,  while  °  °  indicates 
case  26,  the  dullest  girl  tested. 

The  relation,  under  any  one  chronological  grouping, 
of  mental  age  and  the  number  of  trials  required  to  form 
the  association  is  not  regular  although  it  indicates  that 
in  general  the  number  of  trials  necessary  is  less  with 
some  dull  children  than  with  average  children  while 
other  dull  children  take  longer  to  learn  than  the  average 
child.  Only  children  under  three  years  of  age  take  as 
many  as  eight  or  nine  trials  and  here  the  duller  child 
of  an  equal  age  takes  longer  to  learn. 

These  relations  may  be  best  seen  in  the  tables  follow- 
ing. The  correlation  between  learning  and  Binet  rating 
is  —  0.588  while  with  evaluations  by  the  Yerkes  scale 
it  is  —  0.589.     In  the  tables  the  figures  represent  the 

Relation  of  Learning  to  Binet  with  Analysis  by 
Sex  and  Age 


Age  in  months 

Number  of  trials  rt 

'.quired  to 

develop  learning . 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

i^^'liSS 

5 

7 

4 

24-35  i  ^°y^ 

12.5 

12 

se^-rfS  -j^  (jjj.jg 

7 

16 

7 

^*'&i 

16 

19 

17 

15 

16 

^'»{g?£ 

24 
19°° 

27.5° 

20.6 

22 

^H^i 

28 

24.5 

27.3 

24 

'M^S 

30.5 

34° 

29.5 

28.5 
28 

32 

84-89    Girls 

32.5 

32 

Av.  Age  Boys 

28.3 

22.7 

24.1 

17.8 

8.3 

14.0 

by      Girls 

19.9 

29.5 

22.0 

28.0 

19.5 

11.5 

5.5 

Binet    Both 

22.4 

27.6 

23.4 

19.3 

12.8 

12.8 

5.5 

166  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

Relation  of  Leaening  to  Yerkes  with  Analysis  by 
Sex  and  Age 

Ageinmonths  Number  of  trials  required  to  develop  learning. 

3  4  5  6  7  8  9 


"-^{IX 

0 

0 

0 

^^H  S 

5.25 

0 

6 
8 

^"-"{S 

10 

11 

10 

7 

9 

*^'»Urs 

29 
15°° 

27.5° 

16.3 
12 

"•^'li'^s 

28 

22 

24.3 

20.5 

'^«4s 

30.5 

32° 

27.5 

27.5 
20 

31 

84r-89       Girls 

31.5 

33 

Av.Age  Boys 

30.0 

18.3 

20.6 

12.7 

2.3 

7.5 

by      Girls 

16.1 

28.0 

16.2 

20.0 

15.5 

4.0 

0 

Yerkes    Both 

20.3 

25.4 

19.1 

13.7 

7.6 

5.8 

0 

average  rating  by  Binet  or  Yerkes  tests  of  the  children 
who  bj  sex,  age  and  number  of  trials  needed  for  learn- 
ing belong  in  a  group.  The  ratings  are  all  expressed 
in  points  for  which  credit  was  given. 

If  we  make  the  same  type  of  distributive  analysis 
upon  the  basis  of  the  number  of  trials  necessary  to 
develop  unlearning  we  find  that  for  both  the  boys  and 
the  girls  the  mental  age  increases  as  the  chronological 
age  within  each  and  every  subdivision  made  according 
to  difficulty  of  unlearning.  Tliis  is  true  on  both  the 
Binet  and  Yerkes  distributions  but  with  one  exception 
in  both.  In  the  group  needing  9  trials  for  unlearning 
there  is  a  deviation,  the  case  marked  #>  which  is  case 
88,  the  son  of  the  feeble-minded  man  and  the  insane 
woman. 

If  within  any  one  division  according  to  chronological 
age  we  compare  the  mental  ages   of  those  requiring 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    167 


different  numbers  of  trials  to  unlearn  we  find  sex  dif- 
ferences. The  mental  ages  of  the  boys  increase  as  the 
number  of  trials  increases  up  to  a  certain  point,  then 
decrease    as    unlearning    becomes    still    more    difficult. 


Age  in 
month* 


Relation  of  Binet  Age  to  Unleabning,  Age  and  Sex. 
Number  of  trials  required  to  develop  unlearning. 


6 


9 


10 


Fat7- 
12     ures. 


12  to  23 

Boys      . 
Girb      . 

. 

5.0 
5.6 

24  to  35 

Boys 
Girls      . 

12.0 

16 

0 

12.0 

11.0 
11.5 

26  to  47 

Boys 
Girls       . 

.       16.0 

19.0 

16.0 

17 

0 

15 

0     .. 

48  to  59 

Boys    17 

m  . 

22.0 

23.5 

Girls       . 

.       26.0 

19 

oo 

23.5 

23.0 

18 

5" 

20 

0 

60  to  71 

Boys 
Girb       . 

.       24.0 

30.0 
28.0 

28^0 

19. » 

26 

0     28 

0  '.; 

72  to  83 

Boys 
Girls       . 

28 
32 

.0     28.5 
.0     28.0 

31 

0 

3410 

31.0 

30 

^m 

84  to  89     Girls       . 

.       31.0 

35 

1 

Av   age  f  Boys    17 

0     28 

.0     22.2 

23 

5 

26.0 

20.7 

22.0 

30 

0 

15 

0     8.0 

by         Girls       . 

32 

.0     29.0 

27 

0 

31.0 

25.0 

19.5 

17 

8 

23 

0     27 

0     8.2 

Binet 

Both 

20 

.0     24.9 

25 

2 

28.5 

22.8 

21.0 

20 

2 

21 

6     8.1 

Relation  of  Bridges-Yerkes  Age  to  Ura,EARNi  ng,  Age  and  Sex. 


Age  in 
months 

12  to  23  f  Boys 

1  Girls 

24  to  35  f  Boys 

1  Girls 

36  to  47  r  Boys 

1  Girls 

48  to  59  f  Boys    10 

\  Girls 

60  to  71  I  Boys 

\  Girls 

72  to  83  /  Boys 

\  Girls 

84  to  89     Girls 


Number  of  trials  required  to  develop  unlearning. 
4  5  6  7  8  9  10       11 


m 


4.0 
9!o 


6.0 

ii!o 


10.0     10.0 
8.0     20.0       ..       24.0 
26.0     13.°°      ..       22.0     26.0     11.°°    11 
20.5       ..       30.0       ..       14. S 

29.0     23.0       ..  ..       22 

0     27.5     29.0       ..       33.0       ..       28. SS      . 

0     20.0       ..       32.0       

29.5     37.0       


0 

0     28 


Fail- 
ures. 

0.0 
0.0 
4.5 
4.0 


Av.  age  [Boys    10.0     26 

by      ]  Girls       . .       31 

Yerkes    I  Both  28 


0  18.2  15.0  25.0 
0  26.2  25.0  30.5 
5     21.4     19.0     27.8 


16.7 
22.3 
19.5 


20.7  28.0 
18.0  10.5 
19.6     14.0 


0  2.2 
0  1.6 
5     1.9 


This  seems  to  be  the  situation  although  a  complete  dis- 
tribution at  any  one  age  is  lacking  but  the  cases  of 
lower  mentality  are  on  the  ends  of  the  various  distribu- 
tions according  to  number  of  trials  needed.  Case  # 
is  the  case  38  mentioned  above.  Case  #//#  is  case 
28  also  mentioned  before  as  rather  dull,  while  case 
##    indicates   the   child   from  the   family   where   there 


168  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

seems  to  be  some  glandular  disturbance  which  brings 
abnormal  obesity  from  adolescence.  This  boy  as  yet 
shows  no  physical  signs  of  the  abnormal  development. 
Among  the  girls  the  duller  ones  seem  intermediate 
in  range  while  the  brighter  ones  unlearn  either  more 
rapidly  or  more  slowly.  Case  °  is  number  26  described 
above  while  case  °°  is  the  daughter  of  the  woman  with 
goitre. 

In  general  it  seems  evident  that  rating  the  child  by 
either  Binet  or  Yerkes  and  at  the  same  time  placing 
him  relatively  on  the  Krasnogorski  processes  brings  out 
complementary  evidence,  from  the  two  extremely  dif- 
ferent measures,  of  the  child's  ability  relative  to  the 
group. 

Let  us  consider  next  the  results  obtained  upon  the 
Seguin  Form  Board.  In  all  only  39  children  were  able 
to  complete  the  task  of  placing  each  of  the  ten  blocks 
where  it  belonged.  Of  the  eleven  who  failed  nine  failed 
completely  and  the  other  two  were  unable  when  they 
had  incorrectly  covered  a  hole  to  go  ahead  and  correct 
their  error.  All  children  were  given  three  trials  one 
right  after  the  other  and  no  more  than  three.  For 
the  39  who  succeeded  the  following  correlation  with 
chronological  age  were  calculated: 

Initial  time  —  0.774 

Best  time  first  day  —  0.806 

Improvement  first  day  -f-  0.011 

%   improvement  first  day  -j-  0.442 

Improvement  from  best  first  day 

to  first  trial  second  day  —  0.302 

Improvement  from  best  first  day 

to  best  second  day  —  0.482 

Improvement  from  best  first  to 

best  second  day  in  %  —  0.512 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    169 

The  initial  time  on  the  Form  Board  is  not  a  valuable 
nor  a  really  correct  value  with  several  of  the  children 
as  it  was  necessary  to  help  them  in  order  to  enable 
them  to  comprehend  what  was  wanted  from  them.  None 
of  the  other  methods  of  rating  their  ability  has  a  suffi- 
ciently high  correlation  coefficient  to  be  worth  studying 
intensively  except  the  best  Form  Board  time  the  first 
day.  This  was  the  rating  which  was  consequently 
selected  for  correlation  with  other  findings  on  the  same 
children  as  well  as  for  analysis  independently. 

The  r  between  Form  Board  time  on  the  best  trial  and 
Binet  age  is  —  0.799,  or  the  time  decreases  as  the  men- 
tal age  increases.  The  correlation  with  the  Yerkes  age 
is  very  nearly  the  same,  being  —  0.798.  The  correla- 
tions between  Form  Board  time  and  the  development 
of  learning  and  unlearning  are  very  low,  indeed  negligi- 
ble, being  only  +  0.228  and  +  0.199  respectively.  A 
tabular  analysis  gives  very  little  more  information  re- 
garding the  reason  for  this  non-conformity.  A  curve 
plotted  on  the  individual  cases  arranged  in  order  of 
merit  or  speed  on  the  Form  Board  shows  that  the  rate 
of  completing  the  task  decreases  as  age  or  as  mental 
age  decreases.  There  is  some  relation  to  learning:  those 
who  learn  most  quickly  are  not,  however,  the  quickest 
on  this  task  but  rather  nearer  the  middle  of  the  group, 
while  the  slowest  learners  are  slowest  here  also.  The 
girls  seem  somewhat  more  rapid  than  the  boys. 

The  lack  of  a  higher  correlation  may  probably  be  ex- 
plained in  the  following  manner.  A  child  who  forms 
a  conditioned  reflex  or  conditioned  association  rapidly 
may  learn  just  as  rapidly  on  the  Form  Board  hut  in  his 
learning  if  there  be  any  error  due  to  a  false  move  or 
to  trial  and  error  learning  in  general  he  learns  that 
false  move  as  a  part  of  the  procedure  and  he  then  has 


170 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


to  unlearn  it  before  it  drops  out  of  his  behavior.  This 
lengthens  his  total  reaction  time  and  may  persist  for 
a  number  of  trials.  Such  an  explanation  can  not  be 
proven  to  be  correct  without  micromotion  study  but  ex- 
perience leads  the  writer  to  believe  that  it  may  be  at 
least  one  of  the  factors  at  work. 

The  accompanying  tables  give  the  results  obtained 
from  an  analysis  of  the  Form  Board  times  in  the  groups 
homogeneous  as  regards  age,  sex,  learning  and  unlearn- 
ing ability.  The  figures  in  the  tables  indicate  average 
times  for  the  groups  expressed  in  seconds. 


Relation  of  Form  Board  Time  to  Leabning,  Age  and  Sex. 


Age  in 
months 
12  to  23 

24  to  35 

36  to  47 

48  to  59 

60  to  7i 

72  to  83 

84  to  89 


Number  of  trials  needed  for  learning. 
8  4  5  6 


/  Boys 

iGirla 

Boys 

Girls 

Boys 

Girls 127.0 


2F. 


Boys. 
Girls . 
Boys. 
Girls. 
Boys. 
Girls. 
Girls . 


52.0 
65.9 


27.0 
31.7 


90.0 


33.2 
42.0 
31.3 

2i!o 

22.0 


60+1F. 
75. 7S 
73.0 
33.0 

ii'.S 


107+2F. 
F. 


28.0 
28.0 


95.0 
F. 


23.4 


F 

145 
F 


F  =  Failure. 


2F. 


Average 
time 


Age  in 
months 


[Boys 41.6 

^  Girls 69.1 

I  Both 60.9 


68.0 
28.2 
36.3 


51.5 
51.7 
51.6 


54.3 
28.0 
47.0 


95.0 
23.4 
59.2 


122.0 


Relation  op  Form  Board  Time  to  Unleabnino,  Age  and  Sex. 

Number  of  trials  to  develop  unlearning. 
3456789  10         11 


12 


Fail- 
ures 


12  to  23 

fBoys 
Girls 

2F. 

SF. 

24  to  35 

Boys 
Girls 

107.0 

145.0 

2F. 
2F 

36  to  47 

Boys 

99.0 

K. 

90.0 

95.0 



Girls 

127.0 

60+ IF. 

48  to  59 

Boys 

135.0 

33.0 

20.5 



Girls 

32.4 

38.0 

67.5 

49.4 

55.5 

123.0 

60  to  71 

Boys 
Girls 

33.0 

30.0 
27.0 

34!o 

54.0 

ssio 

27!o 

72  to  83 

Boys 
Girls 

28.0 
23.4 

24.5 
28.0 

28.0 

2i!o 

24.0 

39.4 

84  to  89 

Girls 

21.0 

24.0 

"f. 

=  F"ai 

ure. 

Average 

Boys 

135 

28.0 

53.5 

28.0 

31.5 

86.3 

58.3 

39.4 

95.0 

F. 

Time 

(iirls 

23.4 

25.0 

31.0 

24.0 

49.7 

88.2 

57.0 

78.0 

27.0 

F. 

[Both 

it 

i.7 

42.3 

30.0 

27.8 

68.0 

70.3 

62.6 

61.0 

t\ 

STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    171 

In  studying  the  relation  of  Form  Board  times  to  the 
rate  of  unlearning  of  an  association  we  can  see  that  in 
general  the  rapid  unlearncrs  succeed  more  rapidly  with 
this  task  but  the  deviations  are  marked  in  both  direc- 
tions 

The  results  obtained  upon  the  Adaptation  Board  are 
interesting  in  spite  of  the  small  number  of  cases.  They 
extend  downward  the  results  published  by  Goddard. 
No  child  under  thirty  months  of  age  succeeded  in  cor- 
rectly responding  to  any  one  of  the  trials.  No  child 
under  47  months  of  age  completed  the  whole  four  turns 
while  no  child  over  77  months  failed.  In  this  inter- 
mediary group  success  upon  the  first  two  trials  is  by  no 
means  synonymous,  as  Goddard  seems  to  think,  with 
success  upon  the  third  and  fourth  trials  although  it 
may  be  in  older  children.  Of  the  33  between  the  ages 
of  47  and  77  months  3  did  only  1  turn,  8  did  2  turns, 
3  did  3  turns,  10  did  4  turns  and  9  failed  com- 
pletely. The  correlation  with  chronological  age  is 
-f-  0.703,  which  is  surprisingly  high  when  one  considers 
the  few  possible  types  of  behavior  in  response  to  the 
situation.  The  correlation  with  Binet  age  is  +  0.716 
and  that  with  the  Yerkes  is  -|-  0.672  with  a  slight  su- 
periority of  the  Binet  evidenced  as  a  means  for  study- 
ing adaptability.  This  slight  difference  of  the  two  is 
also  seen  in  a  slightly  higher  correlation  of  the  Yerkes 
with  the  reverse  function,  unadaptative  memory,  as 
measured  by  the  Krasnogorski  process  of  unlearning. 

The  correlation  value  of  the  adaptation  board  ability 
with  learning  is  —  0.366  and  with  unlearning  is 
—  0.280.  The  difference  here,  although  slight,  again 
corroborates  the  fact  that  the  learning  and  the  un- 
learning processes  do  involve  adaptation  as  a  factor 
making  for  success.     Disregarding  age,  which  we  have 


172 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


seen  is  highly  correlated  with  success  on  this  test,  we 
find  the  relation  of  learning  and  unlearning  to  the  num- 
ber of  successful  turns  on  the  Adaptation  Board  clearly 
shown  in  the  following  tables : 


Boys  ^ 


Failed 

Succeeded  on 

1  turn 

2  turns 

3  turns 

.4  turns 


r  Failed 

I  Succeeded  on 

Girls  J  1  turn 

I  2  turns 

3  turns 

1.4  turns 


Relation  of  Learning  to  Adaptation. 

Number  of  trials  needed  for  learning. 
3  4  5  6 

2.22 


Relation  op  Unlearning  to  Adaptation. 

Number  of  trials  needed  for  unlearning. 
3        4         5         6        7         8         9        10       11      12 


Failed 1 

Succeeded  on 
Boys  J  1  turn 

2  turns 

3  turns 

. 4  turns 

("Failed 

Succeeded  on 

Girls  J  1  turn 

I  2  turns 

3  turns 

L  4  turns 1 


Failures. 
4 


The  tables  merely  confirm  the  low  correlation  coeffi- 
cients indicating  that  in  general  the  child  who  learns 
more  readily  in  the  Krasnogorski  learning  is  apt  to 
learn  more  readily  to  adapt  to  the  changing  situation 
in  this  test,  while  the  learning  is  still  further  condi- 
tioned by  the  ability  to  unlearn  which  is  essential  for 
adaptation.  Or,  it  is  the  child  who  not  only  learns 
quickly  but  who  also  unlearns  quickly  that  is  most  apt 
to  do  well  on  this  board. 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     173 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  all  boys  who  succeeded 
in  completing  the  first  turn  likewise  did  the  second 
turn  while  the  two  successes  are  not  always  correlated 
in  the  girls.  On  the  other  hand  the  girls  who  do  the 
third  turn  all  do  the  fourth  turn  also  and  this  is  not 
true  of  the  boys.  Of  course  this  may  be  only  a  chance 
result  from  so  few  cases. 

Regarding  the  three  Healy  Boards  very  little  data 
were  obtained.  The  boards  were  not  presented  as  a 
learning  problem  in  the  manner  Schmitt  used  them  but 
as  a  completion  problem  or  task.  As  such  they  inter- 
ested the  children  but  errors  and  difficulty  usually  led 
them  to  express  a  preference  for  the  Seguin  Form 
Board.  No  successful  completion  was  obtained  from 
any  child  under  the  age  of  52  months.  A  girl  of  that 
age  completed  the  Foal  and  Mare  Puzzle  in  300  seconds 
but  failed  on  the  other  two  boards.  No  other  child 
under  70  months  of  age  was  successful  on  the  Foal  and 
Mare  Puzzle.  No  child  under  55  months  of  age  com- 
pleted Healy  A  and  no  child  under  67  months  com- 
pleted Healy  B. 

On  the  Foal  and  Mare  Puzzle  only  ten  of  the  fifteen 
children  who  were  over  the  age  of  70  months  succeeded 
nor  is  the  failure  definitely  correlated  with  any  other 
process  tested. 

Similarly,  eight  children  completed  Healy  A  in  times 
ranging  from  30"  to  325",  and  nine,  five  that  did  the 
Healy  A  and  four  others  did  Healy  B  in  times  rang- 
ing from  90"  to  330".  The  failures  for  children  of  the 
same  ages,  mental  ages,  etc.,  are  more  frequent  than 
the  successes,  however.  Consequently  all  that  we  can 
decide  is  that  success  is  indicative  of  an  ability  not 
generally  possessed  by  children  of  these  ages  but 
whether  failure  is  significant  can  not  be  determined. 


174  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

All  of  the  cases  worked  either  by  chance  or  by  the  trial 
and  success  method. 

The  other  measurements  of  the  children  were  of  two 
kinds :  the  purely  anthropometric  and  the  psychomotor. 
The  purely  anthropometric  measurements  consisted  of 
the  standing  and  sitting  heights  of  the  child  and  his 
weight.  The  psychomotor  measurements  were  the  dyna- 
mometric  record  the  child  achieved  with  his  left  and  his 
right  hands  used  separately  and  his  spirometer  ability. 
These  are  usually  called  the  "grip"  and  the  "vital"  or 
"lung  capacity."  These  last  are  measured  indirectly 
through  the  use  of  apparatus  and  consequently  measure 
not  the  maximum  efficiency  of  the  muscles  and  the  lungs 
as  such  but  the  maximum  efficiency  of  the  child  to  vol- 
untarily utilize  the  capacities  inherent  in  his  organism. 
As  this  introduces  a  mental  factor  they  are  measures 
which  should  probably  correlate  more  highly  with  each 
other  than  with  the  purely  anthropometric  findings. 
This  is  actually  the  case. 

The  height  and  weight  as  such  are  less  significant 
than  their  relation  to  other  measurements  as  indicated 
by  indices,  hence  we  have  made  no  detailed  study  of 
them  separately.  The  small  number  of  cases  would  in 
itself  seem  sufficient  reason  for  not  attaching  any  sig- 
nificance to  them  as  norms  of  height  or  weight,  espe- 
cially as  all  analysis  would  have  to  be  by  age  and  sex. 
In  studying  mental  processes,  however,  and  psychomo- 
tor functions,  the  thing  we  most  desire  to  obtain  is  in- 
formation concerning  the  relation  of  these  measures  to 
psychomotor  and  mental  growth.  If  they  are  at  all 
closely  associated  with  the  development  of  mental  abil- 
ity as  tested  by  the  various  present-day  procedures  the 
relation  should  appear  when  the  two  sexes  are  studied 
together. 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    175 

The  following  correlations  with  chronological  age 
were  found: 

Height,  standing  +0.898 

Height,  sitting  +0.908 

Standing-sitting  height  index             +  0.642 

Weight  +  0.894 

Weight-height  index  -f-  0.673 

Grip  with  right  hand  +  0.871 

Grip  with  left  hand  +  0-848 

Average  grip  +  0.867 

Grip-height  index  +  0.829 

Grip-weight  index  +  0.844 

Spirometer  ability  +  0.862 

Spirometer  ability-height  index          +  0.827 

Spirometer  ability- weight  index          +  0.762 

Of  these  we  selected  several  for  further  study  and 
correlation.  The  average  grip  was  chosen  instead  of 
either  the  right-  or  left-hand  grip  because  it  equates 
the  values  for  right-  and  left-handed  children  and  since 
it  is  the  average  of  the  best  trial  for  each  hand  its 
value  is  less  apt  to  be  influenced  by  chance  factors. 
The  grip-weight  and  grip-height  indices  were  also 
studied  because  of  their  possible  value  as  giving  indi- 
cations of  physiological  age  while  the  spirometer-height 
and  the  vital  indices  were  studied  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. 

Average  grip  and  the  two  grip  indices  may  be  con- 
sidered together.  The  grip-weight  index  seems  to  be 
slightly  more  valuable  than  either  of  the  others  as  it 
correlates  slightly  higher  with  the  results  of  the  mental 
examinations.  The  grip  indices  invariably  correlate 
more  highly  with  the  mental  ratings  than  do  the  vital 


176  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

indices  if  we  consider  the  Binet,  Yerkes,  Adaptation  and 
Form  Board  tests  and  the  Krasnogorski  unlearning 
while  the  vital  indices  correlate  significantly  higher  with 
the  Krasnogorski  processes  of  learning,  memory  and  re- 
learning.  This  correlation  with  learning  may  seem  to 
be  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  use  of  the  spirometer 
involves  more  learning  than  the  use  of  the  dynamometer 
but  such  can  hardly  be  the  case  as  the  children  were 
given  similar  chance  to  improve  their  record  on  both 
pieces  of  apparatus.  The  best  record  was  used  re- 
gardless of  the  fact  that  it  was  the  first  or  the  last  rec- 
ord that  the  child  made. 

Grip  records  were  obtained  upon  all  of  the  children 
over  two  years  of  age.  The  five  under  that  age  failed 
seemingly  because  of  lack  of  being  able  to  understand 
what  was  required  of  them  and  not  because  of  their  in- 
ability to  grip  anything  at  all.  The  same  children 
failed  to  make  any  record  upon  the  spirometer  with  the 
exception  of  the  one  nearest  to  two  years  of  age  (22 
months),  who  inhaled  instead  of  exhaling.  The  record 
was  used  despite  this  reversal  of  the  normal  way  of  mak- 
ing a  record  but  the  other  four  who  were  all  under  six- 
teen months  of  age  could  not  even  comply  with  the 
suggestion  to  "suck  it"  or  "taste  it,"  which  was  given 
in  an  attempt  to  get  them  to  make  a  record  by  inhala- 
tion after  they  had  failed  in  an  attempt  to  make  one 
by  "blowing." 

The  average  grip  distribution  is  seen  in  Chart  V.  If 
we  take  the  average  grip  of  the  child  and  divide  it  by 
his  height  we  have  the  increment  of  grip  per  increment 
of  body  height.  The  distribution  of  this  index  follows 
regularly  that  of  the  grip  itself,  showing  that  the  varia- 
tion in  the  grip  of  the  different  children  is  due  to  some 
other  factor  than  that  of  physiological  development  as 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     177 

measured  by  height,  although  height  regularly  in- 
fluences the  grip  amount.  This  independence  of  the 
factor  of  height  is  indicated  by  the  unusually  high  cor- 
relation coefficient  of  +  0.989  between  grip  and  the 
grip-height  index.  Similarly  the  influence  of  weight 
may  be  studied  by  calculating  the  increment  of  grip 
per  increment  of  body  weight. 

Body-weight  seems  to  have  a  somewhat  greater  in- 

CH/SRI  V.        M'ERAGS  mfMAIIOlffilBR  ASILIIY  AKI>  ITS  RiXAIIOS  TO  B2I0HT,  WEICIir  AHI  AOg. 






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fluence  upon  the  individual  variations  than  height  has, 
reducing  them  and  bringing  them  nearer  to  a  group 
average.  Significantly  enough  it  does  not  seem  to  raise 
the  relative  rating  of  those  whose  grip  was  less  than 
the  average  as  much  as  it  decreases  the  variation  of 
those  above  the  average.  The  grip-weight  index  has 
in  general  the  highest  correlative  value  of  the  three 
when  we  study  their  relation  to  the  mental  tests.  The 
sex  diff^erences  do  not  appear  to  be  very  great  although 
the  girls  seem  more  variable  among  themselves  while 
the  range  of  variability  is  greater  for  the  boys. 


178  ,  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

The  correlations  between  average  grip  and  the  learn- 
ing and  unlearning  of  the  conditioned  reflex  are  rather 
low  but  on  the  whole  the  more  rapidly  a  child  learns  or 
unlearns  the  better  is  apt  to  be  his  grip  or  dynamom- 
eter ability.  There  are  many  individual  exceptions  to 
this  generality  and  the  relation  is  again  influenced  by 
sex,  age  and  by  the  high  correlation  the  grip  has  with 
things  which  indicate  motor  control.  Grip  or  dyna- 
mometer ability  surely  deserves  a  closer  study  and  we 
may  some  day  find  that  its  variation  when  the  height 
and  weight  factors  have  been  eliminated  will  be  contribu- 
tive  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  relation  existing 
between  physiological  and  mental  development. 

The  lung  capacity  as  measured  by  the  spirometer 
gives  a  similar  distribution  to  that  found  by  the  grip 
measurements.  The  spirometer  ability-height  index  or 
increment  of  lung  capacity  as  measured  upon  the  spi- 
rometer per  increment  of  body  height  is,  like  the  grip- 
height  index,  quite  similar  to  the  original  measurement 
when  the  factor  of  height  had  not  been  eliminated. 
This  can  easily  be  seen  in  the  close  approximation  of 
the  two  curves  on  Chart  VI.  The  lung  capacity-weight 
index  is  quite  diff^erent.  The  weight  seems  to  be  a  de- 
termining factor  in  the  increase  of  lung  capacity  in 
the  children  over  five  years  of  age.  It  also  influences 
the  variations  of  individual  cases. 

The  lung  capacity-weight  or  vital  index  has  been 
rather  widely  used.  DeBusk  (36)  finds  that  children 
who  are  retarded  show  a  lessened  vital  index.  Since 
then  he  has  also  declared  that  there  is  a  definite  rela- 
tion between  the  vital  index  and  mental  age  according 
to  the  Binet  although  he  has  presented  no  correlation 
coefficient  (Unpublished  doctorate  thesis). 

There  is  a  correlation  of  -j-  0.739  between  the  vital 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    179 


index  and  the  Binet  age  of  the  children  measured  in 
this  study.  The  correlation  coefficient  of  the  lung  ca- 
pacity-height index  with  Binet  age  is  even  higher,  be- 
ing -f-  0.769.  But  neither  of  these  is  as  high  as  the 
correlations  between  grip  and  Binet  rating. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  Point  Scale  or  Yerkes  rat- 
ings. The  correlation  coefficient  with  vital  index  being 
+  0.679  while  that  with  the  lung  capacity-height  in- 

CHART  VI.  SPISOUEira  ABILIIV  AOT)  ITS  RELAtlOH  TO  HEIGHT,   WEICBT  AJID  AOE. 


__     Spirometer  ability 

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to  incrtaslng  chronological  age. 


dex  it  is  -f  0.722  and  with  the  grip-weight  index  it  is 
.-f  0.755. 

There  are  moderate  correlations  between  the  vital  in- 
dices and  Form  Board  and  Adaptation  scores  but  in 
general  these  are  not  so  high  as  the  correlations  of  the 
same  scores  with  the  grip  indices. 

The  Krasnogorski  learning  and  the  vital  index  have  a 
correlation  of  —  0.548  or  there  is  a  tendency  for  the 
more  rapid  learners  to  have  a  greater  spirometer  abil- 
ity-weight index.    The  correlation  coefficient  for  learn- 


180  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

ing  ability  and  spirometer  ability-height  index  is  al- 
most as  high,  being  —  0.516.  On  the  other  hand  the 
correlation  coefficients  expressing  the  relations  between 
these  indices  and  unlearning  are  so  low  as  to  be  prac- 
tically negligible. 

On  the  whole  the  correlation  coefficients  indicate  that 
both  of  these  indices  as  well  as  the  grip  indices  should 
be  used  as  supplementary  tests  of  mental  behavior. 

RESULTS    OBTAINED    UPON    DEFECTIVES 

In  regard  to  the  question  as  to  whether  Krasnogorski 
was  right  when  he  claimed  that  the  results  obtained  by 
his  method  have  such  high  clinical  value  we  must  turn 
for  a  specific  answer  to  our  experiments  upon  mental  de- 
fectives. The  fact,  pointed  out  above,  that  in  our  un- 
selected  group  the  children  found  at  the  extremes  of 
the  age  distributions  for  boys  and  those  found  serially 
misplaced  by  Binet  or  Yerkes,  when  the  basis  of  group- 
ing was  the  number  of  trials  on  the  learning  process, 
are  the  deviates  of  the  group  as  a  whole — this  fact 
shows  that  we  have  a  method  which  is  able  to  help  de- 
termine defectives.  Whether  it  can  do  so  independent 
of  correlation  with  other  findings  is  another  matter. 

The  work  upon  the  seven  lower-grade  defectives  will, 
with  the  exception  of  cases  6  and  7,  throw  very  little 
light  upon  the  problem.  The  rate  of  learning  of  the 
first  five  cases  is  as  follows : 


Case 

Age  in 

No. 

of  trials  for 

Mental  Age 

No. 

months. 

learning 

in  Years. 

1 

55 

14 

1— 

2 

50 

5-6 

1 

3 

51 

13 

lor  2 

4 

60 

10-19 

12 

5 

36 

6-9 

13 

STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     181 

Two  of  these  establish  a  reaction  within  the  range 
of  number  of  trials  found  upon  our  unselected  group. 
Their  reaction  is  nearer  that  which  one  would  expect 
of  their  chronological  age  than  that  wliich  corresponds 
to  the  same  mental  age  in  our  unselected  group.  The 
other  three  are  far  slower  learners  than  the  youngest 
normal  children  tested.  But  then  such  a  test  is  not 
actually  needed  as  all  of  the  five  are  so  definitely  idiotic 
that  a  superficial  examination  reveals  the  hopelessness 
of  the  condition  to  a  clinician  of  ordinary  experience. 
Case  seven  is  somewhat  higher  grade  but  again  defi- 
nitely defective.  He  learns  in  8  trials  on  one  process 
and  in  12  on  another.  The  greatest  number  of  trials 
used  by  any  of  those  in  our  unselected  group  of  chil- 
dren who  are  over  37  months  is  7,  Case  7  needs  8  and 
in  mentality  he  belongs  about  with  the  three-year-olds 
who  need  seven  or  eight  trials,  although  he  is  73  months 
old.  Case  six  is  only  34  months  old,  but  unlike  our 
normals  of  that  age  who  require  about  7  or  8  trials 
he  needs  18  to  form  an  association.  One  feels  by  this 
comparison  that  the  diagnosis  of  "imbecile"  made  on 
him  is  all  he  can  ever  fulfill,  although  by  other  tests  he 
is  at  present  practically  normal. 

The  seven  children  in  the  Waverley  Institution  who 
tested  nearest  to  normal  give  us  more  valuable  data 
although  the  number  is  unfortunately  small.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  an  unselected  group  since  all  those  available 
under  8  years  of  age  were  used,  being  6  boys  and  one 
girl.  The  six  boys  ranged  in  age  from  57  to  93  months. 
The  girl  was  81  months  old.  Three  of  these  tested  "at 
age"  on  the  Binet  and  were  on  observation  with  diag- 
nosis deferred.  Of  the  other  four  three  were  one  year 
and  one  was  three  years  backward  by  Binet. 


182  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


The  following  table  shows  the  condition  fairly  well: 

^i^-Z^-.  ■'--■■. 

Distribution  of  7  Borderline  Defectives. 

Age     Binet      Point  score  on  Krasnogorski  Processes  Insfihifinn 

Case     in       Age     Binet    Yerkea     Learnm    Recall         Un-  Re-  Diagnosis 

months  ing  learning-    learning 


A       84 

41 

16 

10 

3 

3 

16 

2 

Imbecile 

B       70 

4> 

17 

9 

5 

2 

8 

2 

Moron 

C       89 

61 

S6 

25 

8 

2 

15 

2 

Moron 

D       69 

3' 

14 

5 

6 

3 

11 

2 

Deferred 

E        67 

42 

17 

9 

6 

2 

14 

2 

Deferred 

F       93 

72 

32 

37 

6 

2 

14 

2 

Deferred 

i(girl)81 

61 

27 

25 

13 

7 

8 

2 

Probably  F.  M, 

From  this  we  see  that  with  one  exception  the  defec- 
tive boys  learn  just  about  as  well  as  the  boys  in  our  un- 
selected  group.  Indeed,  three  out  of  the  six  learn  in 
five  trials  which  seems  to  be  the  mode  for  the  unse- 
lected  group  also.  One  defective,  however,  uses  eight 
trials.  He  is  89  months  old  and  tests  26  points  by 
the  Binet.  None  of  our  unselectcd  group  of  children 
who  was  over  37  months  old  or  who  tested  more  than 
16  points  on  the  Binet  was  so  slow  in  forming  a  con- 
ditioned reflex.  When  we  add  that  the  same  boy  needed 
15  trials  to  unlearn  the  conditioned  reflex  it  is  even 
more  obvious  that  he  lies  without  the  normal  group. 

This  difference  In  the  ability  to  unlearn  the  condi- 
tioned reflex  is  marked  in  the  majority  of  cases.  Only 
two  of  the  seven  develop  unlearning  in  a  number  of 
trials  which  Is  small  enough  to  lie  within  the  normal 
range  of  variability.  The  normal  range  is  3  to  12 
trials.  One  of  the  defectives  develops  the  unlearning 
in  8  and  one  in  11  trials.  Both  of  these  are  below 
what  they  should  be  on  the  Binet.  This  seems  more 
than  a  chance  relation  when  we  consider  that  of  the 
boys  In  our  unselected  group  who  were  of  equal  age 
the  only  ones  needing  more  than  7  trials  were  the  son 
of  the  woman  with  the  goitre,  who  took  8,  the  defec- 
tive boy,  taking  9,  the  son  from  the  family  with  glandu- 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     183 

lar  disturbances  using  10,  but  of  these  three  only  the 
defective  boy  -was  below  by  Binet  while  five  boys  be- 
tween 32  and  51  months  of  age,  normal,  with  12-24 
points  on  the  Binet,  use  8-12  trials. 

The  one  girl  tested  seems  evidently  very  abnormal — 
using  13  trials  to  learn,  needing  seven  to  recall  and 
then  eight  to  unlearn.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  she 
is  bright,  attractive  and  playful  the  experimenter  per- 
sonally feels  that  these  three  processes  give  definite  evi- 
dence of  her  mental  deficiency  as  well  as  of  that  of  the 
six  boys,  although  they  all  appeared  to  deviate  but 
little  from  normals  on  the  various  Form  Boards,  etc. 

Two  other  children  who  were  available  were  studied. 
These  were  brothers  who  had  been  taken  to  a  public 
clinic  for  mental  examination  because  they  were  "not 
getting  along  well  in  school."  They  were  diagnosed 
as  "not  feeble-minded."  They  are  85  and  75  months 
old  respectively.  The  family  is  of  rather  low  mental- 
ity even  for  that  of  an  unskilled  laborer  and  the  moth- 
er's relatives  are  all  of  greater  ability,  tending  to- 
wards the  lower  professional  class.  The  mother  her- 
self is  good  natured  and  easy-going  but  cleanly  and 
she  evidently  makes  the  most  of  her  husband's  scanty 
wages  in  caring  for  five  growing  children.  The  father 
seems  stupidly  intelligent  but  without  any  definite  vir- 
tues or  vices.  His  mother  is  reported  to  have  suffered 
from  a  disease  of  long-standing  which  from  descrip- 
tion could  be  nothing  but  syphilis.  The  three  other 
children,  girls,  are  rather  nervous,  high-strung  and  ex- 
citable but  are  not  feeble-minded  although  the  one  who 
is  in  her  thirteenth  year  has  begun  to  fall  back  from 
leading  her  class  and  has  had  chorea.  The  other  two, 
twins,  are  seemingly  normal  but  similarly  neurotic. 

The  older  of  the  two  boys,  85  months  old,  scored  32 


184  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

points  by  Binet,  29  by  Yerkes,  did  the  Form  Boards 
readily  but  if  told  to  hurry  became  erratic  in  his  move- 
ments ;  was  up  to  the  normal  averages  in  his  grip  and 
lung  capacity.  He  developed  the  conditioned  reflex 
in  4  trials,  recalled  it  in  2,  developed  unlearning  in 
7  and  relearned  in  2  trials.  These  records  are  all  with- 
in the  normal  range.  He  has  had  a  great  deal  of  ill- 
ness since  early  childhood,  and  is  threatened  with  tuber- 
culosis of  which  he  has  all  the  gross  signs.  He  has 
a  spinal  curvature,  spay-foot,  is  chicken-breasted,  has 
a  very  high  palate,  is  generally  anaemic  and  has  had  nine 
peritonsilar  operations.  This  seems  sufficient  to  ac- 
count for  his  rather  poor  school  work  without  implying 
any  absolute  mental  defect  but  with  imperative  indica- 
tions that  the  problem  is  a  physical  one. 

With  the  brother  75  months  of  age  the  case  is  dif- 
ferent. He  is  and  alwaj^s  has  been  healthy.  He  is,  for 
his  age,  unusually  large,  especially  when  he  is  com- 
pared with  the  rest  of  the  family  in  development.  On 
the  Binet  he  scores  6^  years  or  27  points,  while  on  the 
Yerkes  he  scores  25  points.  He  does  the  Form  Board 
well,  fails  on  the  two  harder  turns  of  the  Adaptation 
Board  and  completely  on  the  Healy  Boards.  He  takes 
7  trials  to  develop  the  conditioned  reflex,  recalls  it  in 
2  and  then  requires  21  trials  to  unlearn  it  although  he 
then  re-learns  it  in  2.  It  is  not  difficult,  keeping  these 
facts  in  mind,  to  see  why,  although  he  is  not  feeble- 
minded by  the  Binet  or  Point  Scale,  he  may  be  actually 
impossible  so  far  as  school  improvement  goes.  School 
is  the  prolonged  test  of  social  efficiency  and  ability  to 
adapt  and  learn  which  is  given  all  children. 

This  boy  has  the  ability  to  form  the  conditioned  re- 
flex or  association  as  readily  as  normal  children  but 
when  this   simpler  situation  is  complicated  by  a  new 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     185 

condition  he  can  not  adapt  readily  to  the  new  condi- 
tion but  his  old  useless  reaction  hangs  on  in  its  initial 
form.  This  gives  us  sufficient  insight  into  his  mental- 
make-up  to  enable  us  to  see  readily  why  he  is  a  school 
failure.  He  can  pick  up  bits  of  knowledge,  form  asso- 
ciations, remember  impressions,  but  he  can  not  utilize 
these  experiences  in  the  production  of  purposive  and 
effective  reactions  in  situations  which  vary  constantly. 
The  reason  for  his  failure  lies  in  his  inherent  neural  pre- 
disposition or  "set."  Because  of  this  he  fails  on  the 
real  mental  test  of  acquiring  an  education.  The  ex- 
perimenter does  not  doubt  in  the  least  but  that  he  will 
eventually  prove  defective  by  other  mental  tests  when 
sufficient  time  has  elapsed  for  him  to  have  reached  his 
limit  of  development.  From  experience  with  the  other 
group  of  borderline  cases  it  seems  probable  that  he 
will  eventually  prove  to  be  about  of  the  low-grade  mo- 
ron type. 

DISCUSSION   AND    SUGGESTIONS 

The  mere  execution  of  a  piece  of  experimenting,  such 
as  the  writer  has  tried  to  carry  out,  tends  to  the  de- 
velopment in  the  experimenter  of  certain  "attitudes" 
towards  the  problem  both  as  regards  subject  matter 
and  technique,  while  usually  certain  more  general  points 
of  view  develop  seemingly  unassisted.  The  statement 
of  these,  in  so  far  as  they  would  affect  further  work 
by  the  experimenter,  should  be  considered  an  essential 
part  of  the  exposition  of  the  problem. 

The  first  condition  of  successful  work  with  young 
children  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  real  interest  in  child  life 
and  a  knowledge  of  how  to  handle  children  in  the  thou- 
sand and  one  exigencies  of  a  morning's  experience  with 
them.    To  be  able  to  give  drinks  of  water,  wash  hands, 


186  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

tie  up  bumps,  prevent  quarrels  and  return  the  chil- 
dren to  their  homes  without  any  signs  of  physical  or 
mental  disturbance  is  fundamentally  a  test  of  ability 
to  handle  them  under  experimental  conditions.  Women 
have  an  undoubted  advantage  in  this  field  and  partly 
for  these  reasons.  The  future  of  Child  Behavior  seems 
to  the  author  intimately  bound  up  with  the  recognition 
of  this  superior  fitness  of  women  for  such  investiga- 
tions. Needless  to  say  such  fitness  is  only  one  prerequi- 
site and  can  not  be  expected  to  replace  exact  training 
in  experimental  methods. 

And  now  regarding  the  children  themselves.  It  is 
fundamentally  necessary  to  consider  their  state  of 
health  or  fatigue,  and  their  emotional  attitude  towards 
the  experimenter  and  the  experiment  as  well  as  to  gath- 
er the  actual  results  upon  the  problem  in  hand.  The 
problem  of  health  can  be  treated  either  by  eliminating 
all  children  who  are  ill  or  by  noting  the  condition  and 
observing  its  effect  upon  the  results  obtained.  Fa- 
tigue is  a  large  and  serious  problem.  In  this  study 
all  children  were  used  between  nine  and  half-past  eleven 
in  the  morning,  the  younger  or  delicate  children  on  a 
given  day  being  used  first.  Fatigue  symptoms  were 
never  present  in  any  marked  degree  in  the  unselected 
group.  Probably  the  stimulation  of  the  novel  situa- 
tion rendered  them  less  liable  to  fatigue.  It  appeared 
in  a  marked  degree  in  the  child  worked  with  through 
a  number  of  weeks. 

The  emotional  attitude  can  usually  be  kept  favor- 
able. It  is  far  better  to  tell  the  child  that  you  will 
allow  him  to  come  and  play  with  your  playthings  than 
to  beg  him  to  be  a  good  boy  and  come.  Most  children, 
and  indeed  I  know  of  no  exceptions,  are  as  delighted 
to  see  the  queer  new  things  in  a  laboratory  as  they 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    187 

arc  to  go  to  the  circus.  Then,  when  they  have  come, 
this  interest  can  easily  be  maintained  by  a  deliberate 
presentation  of  all  work  as  a  game,  a  play,  a  puzzle 
or  a  challenge.  The  time  limit  becomes  a  deadly  enemy 
to  be  beaten,  often  objectified  as  the  racing  hand  of 
the  stop  watch.  An  incredulous  "No,  I  don't  believe 
you  can  do  it  again"  will  be  sufficient  motivation  for 
a  second  attempt  of  a  difficult  task  from  which  interest 
departed  as  soon  as  it  was  solved.  One  little  girl  of 
four  failed  upon  the  Seguin  Form  Board  and  said,  "The 
blocks  wouldn't  stick."  Five  minutes'  play  in  which 
we  "made  believe"  paint  them  with  glue  to  make  them 
stick  led  to  self-confidence,  intense  effort  and  joyous 
success.  In  another  instance  everything  done  had  to 
be  put  down  on  paper  in  a  wonderful  system  of  hiero- 
glyphics so  that  the  successes  could  be  remembered  "to 
tell  father."  All  this  takes  time  but  it  is  more  than 
worth  while. 

The  Aussagen  or  "free  reports"  of  the  children  which 
denote  their  attitude  towards  the  experiment  are  well 
worth  jotting  down,  even  though  one  may  make  none 
but  a  personal  use  of  them.  For  instance,  the  attitude 
of  the  children  towards  my  experiment  was  largely  one 
of  their  attitude  towards  the  feeding.  A  number  of 
them  said  "Oh,  it's  candy,"  "It's  fudge,"  "It's  sweet," 
when  first  fed  but  by  far  the  greater  number  of  these 
verbal  reactions  came  during  the  first  few  trials  of  the 
period  when  I  was  attempting  to  develop  unlearning. 
Some  of  them  only  smiled  sheepishly  or  looked  at  me 
shyly  when  the  bandage  was  taken  off  without  candy 
having  been  given.  Several  asked,  "Is  the  candy  all 
gone?"  "Won't  I  get  any  more  to-day?"  while  one  lit- 
tle girl  offered  to  go  to  the  store  and  buy  me  some 
more.    Another  little  fellow  broke  out  into  an  unusual 


188  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

stutter  and  said,  "You-you-you  forgot  to  give  me  the 
candy  that  time."  Another  counted,  "That's  two  times 
I  didn't  get  any,  this  is  three  times."  Others  contented 
themselves  with  stating,  apparently  to  the  ceiling,  that 
they  liked  candy.  One  impudently  begged,  "Give  me 
just  a  little  bit  this  time,  won't  you.'"'  Another  stated 
circumspectly,  "I  opened  my  mouth  that  time"  and  then 
on  the  next  trial,  "I  opened  my  mouth  again"  but,  when 
I  asked  why,  she  said,  "I  don't  know,"  although  her 
confusion  and  shy  changing  of  the  conversation  indi- 
cated that  she  probably  was  attempting  to  give  me  an 
indirect  intimation  of  her  desire  for  candy.  The  in- 
sight these  reactions  give  makes  interpretation  ob- 
viously unnecessary. 

The  number  of  cases  used  in  this  study  is  far  too 
small  to  give  results  which  can  be  accepted  as  abso- 
lute and  final  and  I  desire  to  make  no  dogmatic  asser- 
tion of  the  manner  of  functioning  of  the  conditioned 
reflexes  in  children  in  general.  A  group  of  50  even 
with  the  control  groups  of  defectives  is  far  too  small 
and  no  one  wishes  more  than  I  that  the  number  were 
5000.  I  believe  that  a  more  extensive  study  will  show 
that  the  functioning  of  the  conditioned  reflexes  is  in- 
fluenced by  even  more  factors  than  I  have  been  able 
to  indicate.  Consequently  these  results  are  presented 
as  suggestive  and  all  contradictory  evidence  is  cheer- 
fully invited  as  that  will  mean  more  intensive  and  ex- 
tensive study  of  young  children. 

The  sex  diff^erences  which  I  have  discussed  a  num- 
ber of  times  in  this  chapter  may  be  thought  to  be  mere 
interpretations  of  insufficient  data,  introduced  because 
of  the  writer's  personal  bias  or  interest.  Quite  the  re- 
verse is  true.  All  of  the  first  analyses  of  the  findings 
were  made  without  separating  into  sex  groups.     It  did 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     189 

not  seem  probable  that  in  a  group  of  fifty  children  all 
under  the  age  of  eight  there  would  be  sufficient  differ- 
ence to  make  it  worth  while  considering  boys  and  girls 
separatcl3\  However,  when  all  other  factors  had  been 
accounted  for  there  were  still  irregularities  in  the  dis- 
tributions which  could  not  be  accounted  for  but  these 
disappeared  when  as  a  last  resort  the  two  sexes  were 
considered  separately. 

A  point  which  may  be  of  interest  to  clinical  psycholo- 
gists is  the  fact  that  in  every  instance  the  observation 
of  the  child  during  the  experiment  gave  reactions  visi- 
ble to  the  eye  in  the  same  trial  as  their  earliest  develop- 
ment showed  in  the  kymograph  record.  Indeed  often 
the  record  showed  a  curve  due  to  cough,  a  laugh,  a 
shrugging  or  twisting  of  the  head  which  could  only  be 
understood  because  the  child  had  been  closely  watched 
and  because  after  each  trial  his  general  behavior  had 
been  written  down.  Very  often  the  exact  situation  was 
more  vividly  expressed  by  the  general  body  position, 
tension  and  deep  breathing  than  by  the  mouth  opening 
itself.  For  clinical  purposes  one  might  easily  apply  the 
method  without  any  apparatus. 

I  have  made  no  attempt  to  evaluate  the  curves  re- 
cording the  reactions.  Krasnogorski  explains  his 
curves  as  representing  first  a  mouth  opening  and  then 
succeeding  that  a  series  of  swallowing  movements.  My 
results  were  not  so  uniform.  With  some  children  this 
type  of  reaction  appeared  but  with  others  the  mouth 
would  open  two  or  three  times  with  swallowing  move- 
ments interspersed.  In  other  cases  the  mouth  would 
be  opened  wide,  gradually  closing,  and  the  swallowing 
curves  would  be  scattered  along  this  decreasing  curve. 
In  others  breathing  was  so  violent  as  to  give  an  addi- 
tional  complicating  factor  in   the   curves   while   with 


190  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

others  lip  movement  (not  recorded)  was  the  chief  re- 
action and  the  swallowing  movements  were  very  faint 
and  mouth  opening  entirely  lacking. 

The  use  of  so  many  auxiliary  means  of  studying  the 
child  perhaps  needs  further  emphasis.  If  the  study 
of  young  children  is  to  lead  us  to  a  factually  based 
concept  of  the  child's  behavior  all  of  the  facts  ascer- 
tained regarding  him  must  be  empirically  welded  into 
a  synthesis.  This  can  not  be  done  if  we  completely 
isolate  the  study  of  any  one  process  from  that  of  all 
others.  Hence  each  study  undertaken  should  involve 
at  least  two  distinct  processes  and  the  results  obtained 
from  the  two  should  be  correlated.  Another  experi- 
menter by  selecting  one  of  these  processes  and  a  new 
one  can  thus  not  only  contribute  new  data  but  he  has 
a  means  of  correlating  all  of  his  work  with  that  of 
the  first  investigator. 

Another  just  as  important  reason  is  the  need  of 
knowing  about  any  one  child  all  the  factors  which  may 
influence  the  results.  For  this  purpose  social  condi- 
tions, heredity,  sex,  age,  general  health,  and  as  many 
other  items  as  possible  should  be  considered.  Kras- 
nogorski  may  have  considered  these  but  he  presents  no 
data.  He  claims  a  clinical  sigrnificance  for  the  condi- 
tioned  reflex  but  does  not  present  his  criteria.  If  the 
cases  he  used  were  already  defective  enough  to  be  diag- 
nosed without  this  method  little  benefit  accrues  from 
it.  Consequently  in  this  study  the  variety  of  proce- 
dures used  has  a  double  purpose. 

It  makes  an  attempt  to  begin  a  correlative  study  of 
the  measures  usually  applied  in  the  study  of  any  child 
with  the  aim  of  placing  him  relative  to  his  group.  It 
also  gives  a  number  of  evaluations  of  each  individual 
child  which  enables  one  to  more  £:learly  analyze  out  the 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     191 

possible  factors  determining  why  he  holds  this  or  that 
place  in  the  group.  Because  of  the  former  need  the 
correlation  coefficients  of  the  various  tests  have  been 
calculated.  The  second  usage  is  illustrated  in  the  in- 
dividual case  illustrations  where  an  explanation  of  a 
varying  factor  in  one  process  aids  in  interpreting  devia- 
tions within  the  group  when  it  is  studied  from  the 
aspect  of  some  other  process. 

This  latter  point  is  beautifully  illustrated  in  the  case 
of  children  in  the  same  family.  There  are  individual 
conditions  as  well  as  the  family  and  social  conditions 
affecting  both  alike.  Differences  which  remain  when 
age  and  sex  have  been  evaluated  can  hardly  be  attrib- 
uted to  "just  individual  differences"  any  more  logi- 
cally than  they  can  to  chance  errors  of  experimentation 
unless  we  find  the  same  variation  in  other  corroborating 
findings  and  these  can  not  be  picked  up  by  chance  after- 
wards but  must  be  a  part  of  the  original  data. 

The  opportunity  of  studying  children  under  one  year 
of  age  was  lacking  in  the  village  where  the  unselected 
group  was  observed.  Consequently  it  resolves  itself 
into  a  separate  departure  which  the  author  has  not  yet 
attacked.  Krasnogorski  states  that  the  conditioned 
reflex  can  with  difficulty  be  established  in  the  second 
half  j-^ear  of  life  but  not  until  then  does  it  reach  its 
functional  perfection.  This  arbitrary  determination 
of  a  starting  place  seems  either  a  conclusion  based  up- 
on a  few  failures,  probably  under  unpsychological  con- 
ditions, or  else  it  may  be  a  logical  deduction.  Present 
knowledge  of  child  development  would  tend  to  lead  in- 
stead to  a  belief  that  the  ability  to  form  some  kinds 
of  associations  is  present  in  some  degree  from  the  time 
of  birth.  The  development  of  the  association  may  be 
more  difficult,  that  is  require  more  trials,  and  it  may 


192  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

not  be  possible  within  the  first  day  or  two  due  to  the 
enormous  adaptive  changes  taking  place  within  the 
organism.  But  this  very  potentiality  for  adaptation  to 
the  new  environment  is  a  type  of  learning  and  promises 
interesting  results.  Moreover,  plenty  of  evidence  has 
been  found  by  observation  and  in  the  biographical  and 
genetic  studies. 

When  a  child  has  learned  to  stop  the  hungry  cry 
first  when  he  feels  the  breast,  later  when  he  is  picked 
up  and  still  later  when  he  is  spoken  to  this  is  a  con- 
ditioned reflex.  The  touch  or  sight  stimulation  is  a 
conditioned  stimulus  and  has  been  associated  with  the 
feeding.  Such  associations  are  reported  in  ver}'^  youn,'^ 
children  by  Preyer,  Stern,  Shinn,  Mrs.  Hall  and  Dear- 
born, while  the  writer  observed  a  conditioned  crying 
in  a  child  10  days  old,  fed,  warm  and  dry,  who  cried 
until  taken  up  and  held  and  who  repeated  crying  as 
soon  as  he  was  laid  down.  It  was  reported  that  this 
had  happened  at  the  same  time  each  day  since  the 
seventh  day. 

The  use  of  abnormal  and  borderline  cases  together 
with  an  unselected  group  seems  doubly  advantageous 
to  the  writer.  If  a  process  is  fundamentally  necessary 
for  normal  functioning  there  should  in  all  probability 
be  greater  deviations  from  the  norm  among  defectives 
than  in  the  unselected  group.  The  "edges"  of  the  two 
should,  in  all  probability,  overlap.  If  the  process  is 
so  generally  non-variable  that  it  is  the  same  in  de- 
fectives as  in  normals  we  must  evaluate  it  less  highly 
in  the  normal  child  and  seek  elsewhere  for  an  explana- 
tion of  why  all  are  not  equally  gifted. 

The  question  might  easily  be  raised  as  to  why  the 
results  are  not  compared  in  detail  with  the  results 
obtained  in  other  studies.     For  instance,  this  study  in- 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX     193 

dicates  a  direct  relation  between  learning  and  effective 
retention.  This  is  in  agreement  with  the  findings  of 
Henderson  (76),  who  used  meaningful  material.  He, 
also,  as  I  have,  found  that  the  older  subjects  tended 
to  learn  more  rapidly  than  the  younger  ones.  Nors- 
worthy  (123)  also  finds  the  rapid  learner  retains  bet- 
ter and  Busemann  (24)  is  inclined  to  accept  this  view 
while  Lyon  (111)  not  only  confirms  this  point  but 
finds  women  and  girls  do  better  on  initial  learning  while 
men  and  boys  retain  better.  However,  he  finds  many 
exceptions  for  "illogical"  material.  All  of  these 
studies  as  well  as  those  on  inhibition  have  been  made 
on  older  subjects  and  have  used  verbal  Aufgaben  and 
chiefly  verbal  learning  material.  This  study  differs  not 
only  in  the  age  of  subjects  but  especially  in  method 
and  material.  Consequently  minute  comparisons  are 
left  to  the  reader  interested  therein. 

The  principle  underlying  experimentation  with  the 
conditioned  reflex  is,  however,  not  as  different  from 
that  usually  employed  in  the  learning  process  as  it  ap- 
pears at  the  first  glance.  In  the  learning  process  both 
nonsense  syllables  and  meaningful  words  are  used. 
These  are  always  grouped  and  a  single  task  may  in- 
volve 10,  12  or,  it  may  be  hundreds  of  units.  In  the 
study  of  the  conditioned  reflex  this  task  is  simplified. 
The  child  learns  only  one  unit.  The  stimulus  is  one 
that  is  arbitrarily  chosen  and  is  undoubtedly  meaning- 
less to  the  child  from  the  standpoint  of  our  idea  of 
the  reaction  to  be  developed.  Meaning  gradually  ac- 
crues, that  is  new  associations  are  formed  between  the 
sensations  from  the  conditioned  stimulus  and  other 
sensations  and  responses.  Because  of  this  simplification 
of  material  the  determination  of  retentiveness  combines 
easily  the  method  of  saving  with  that  of  the  determi- 


194  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

nation  of  retained  members.  The  stimulus  is  applied. 
If  the  reaction  occurs  at  once  the  member  is  retained 
but  if  it  does  not  occur  the  chocolate  "help"  is  given 
again  and  relearning  is  begun.  Thus  sub-liminal  traces 
are  as  easily  and  accurately  evaluated  as  actually  re- 
tained associations. 

The  voluntary  comments  made  by  the  children  indi- 
cate that  the  stimulus  rapidly  develops  meaning  for 
them.  The  meaning  appealed  to  is  the  most  funda- 
mental one  of  a  living,  growing  organism — food.  This 
appeal  probably  facilitates  learning  and  it  may  be  that 
it  increases  the  ease  of  retention.  Consequently  a  new 
series  of  problems  opens  up  at  this  point.  The  method 
probably  is  the  only  one  we  have  to-day  which  offers 
a  chance  to  study  meaning  and  affective  values  in  young 
children.  The  relative  values  of  food  eaten,  seen, 
touched,  mentioned;  of  pleasant,  unpleasant  and  new 
stimuli ;  of  commendation  and  actual  reward  may  easily 
be  studied  simply  by  varying  the  stimulus  quality,  in- 
tensity or  modality. 

And  now  a  few  words  more  about  the  more  general 
uses  of  the  method.  It  is  easily  applicable  with  very 
young  children.  It  is  independent  of  the  acquisition 
of  speech  and  hence  enables  one  to  study  the  develop- 
ment of  mental  processes  without  considering  the  lan- 
guage factor.  It  can  however  be  linked  up  with  speech 
studies  in  various  ways.  For  instance,  an  auditory 
stimulus  may  be  used  as  the  conditioning  stimulus. 
This  may  just  as  easily  be  a  nonsense  syllable  as  the 
ringing  of  a  metronome.  It  might  even  be  possible 
to  develop  discrimination  of  nonsense  syllables  by  using 
feeding  when  one  is  said  and  not  with  the  others.  The 
relative  value  of  auditory,  visual,  cutaneous,  motor  and 
thermal  stimulations  may  be  studied  hy:  comparirgg  the 


STUDY  OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEX    195 

length  of  time  necessary  to  develop  conditional  reflexes 
to  each  of  these.  Naturally  this  must  be  done  in  one 
and  the  same  child  and  as  there  may  be  a  transfer  of 
attitude  or  attention  from  one  series  to  another  the 
series  must  be  studied  in  various  children  in  different 
orders  of  development.  Sensory  discrimination  and 
specificity  and  memorial  functioning  of  stimuli  of  va- 
rious modalities  may  also  be  studied  and  may  throw 
some  light  upon  the  better  modalities  of  presentation 
for  best  learning  and  retention.  The  verbal  Aufgabe 
may  be  introduced  and  its  effect  show  relatively.  Both 
the  negative  and  positive  Aufgabe  may  be  studied  thus. 
So  far  as  an  investigation  of  the  factors  influencing 
the  learning  process  is  concerned  this  method  allows 
of  such  wide  variation  that  time  factors,  effect  of  fre- 
quency and  distribution  of  stimulations,  of  intensity 
and  complexity  of  stimuli,  of  modes  of  presentation, 
quality  of  stimuli,  of  effect  of  affective  toning,  near 
and  distance  stimulation  may  all  be  studied  while  the 
child  thinks  he  is  playing  a  game. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CONCLUSIONS 

T  HAVE  tried  to  present  briefly  the  facts  which  a 
^  survey  of  child  study  gives,  disregarding  details 
but  stressing  in  a  broader  more  synthetic  fashion  the 
factors  influencing  its  development. 

Child  study  has  been  the  outcome  of  a  new  conscious- 
ness in  the  race  and  society  which  has  focused  upon 
the  child  as  its  most  valuable  asset.  The  first  studies 
made  of  the  young  child  were  motivated  primarily  by 
ethical,  moral,  religious  and  educational  aims.  Not 
the  child's  abilities  or  unfolding  mental  processes  as 
such  were  the  object  of  study  but  they  were  regarded 
as  means  of  giving  him  training  and  education.  The 
study  of  the  child  as  such,  for  his  own  sake,  was  not 
properly  emphasized  by  any  one  before  Schleiermacher. 
Even  after  his  formulation  of  childhood  for  the  sake 
of  the  child  it  took  many  years,  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury in  fact,  before  we  find  any  expression  of  interest 
in  the  child's  person,  his  body  and  mind,  motivated  by 
a  purely  scientific  desire  for  a  better  knowledge  of  the 
child  himself. 

Then  in  the  work  of  Sigismund,  Kussmaul,  and  their 
followers  comes  the  beginning  of  careful  observations 
of  child  nature.  These  studies  do  not,  however,  issue 
from  psychological  or  educational  circles  but  are  the 
work  primarily  of  physicians.  Physiological  methods 
and  theories  were  sufficiently  well  evolved  to  permit  in- 

196 


CONCLUSIONS  197 

vestigation  of  physical  functions.  Psychology  had  not 
yet  developed  far  enough  to  have  even  a  method  that 
might  be  used  for  any  such  studies. 

As  psychology  gradually  devised  its  experimental 
methods  these  were  based  largely  upon  introspection 
and  the  study  of  the  young  child  seemed  consequently 
limited  to  observation.  This  was  considered  a  handi- 
cap and  for  some  time  undoubtedly  proved  a  rather 
effective  deterrent  to  quantitative  experimental  studies 
under  controlled  conditions.  Nor  had  these  as  yet 
evolved  their  independent  procedures.  This  tendency 
to  observational  study  of  children  was  also  favored 
by  the  difficulty  of  gaining  permission  to  study  any 
large  number  of  children  during  the  years  before  the 
kindergarten  age.  In  this  early  period  the  social 
group  of  the  child  is  that  of  the  family  and  he  is  not 
segregated  with  a  large  number  of  his  kind  unless  he 
is  in  an  abnormal  physical  or  mental  condition  and 
committed  to  a  hospital  or  institution. 

With  the  added  impetus  and  suggestion  given  by  the 
popular  interest  in  evolutionary  theory,  genetic  or  de- 
velopmental studies  were  vigorously  and  assiduously 
compiled.  The  external  expressions  of  the  child 
through  language  were  also  studied  both  from  a  gene- 
tic standpoint  because  of  the  interest  in  his  develop- 
ment of  the  language  function  and  also  from  the  stand- 
point of  indirect  observation  because  it  was  assumed 
that  his  use  of  language  gave  a  fair  index  of  his  men- 
tal processes.  For  the  first  purpose  the  studies  were 
usually  intensive  and  of  only  one  or  two  children  and 
mostly  made  during  the  first  three  years  of  life  while 
for  the  latter  they  tended  to  become  contributive  to 
education  and  the  subjects  were  usually  children  of 
five  or  six  years  of  age  who  were  just  entering  school. 


198  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

The  intermediate  period  of  two  or  three  years  re- 
mained almost  entirely  unexplored. 

The  child's  movements  were  also  used  as  a  means 
of  studying  his  mental  processes.  For  instance :  grasp- 
ing was  made  a  means  of  studying  color  discrimina- 
tion and  color  preference.  These  studies  most  nearly 
approximate  the  requirements  of  scientific  experimen- 
tation, allowing  of  control  of  conditions  and  giving 
easily  evaluated  results  but  their  use  seems  limited  to 
a  very  narrow  field. 

Individual  studies  have  not  been  confined  to  these 
fields  of  physiological  psychology,  language  and  motor 
development  but  have  touched  almost  all  subjects  per- 
tinent to  psychology.  As  a  whole,  however,  either  the 
number  of  children  used  has  been  very  small,  the  method 
faulty  or  the  findings  so  mixed  up  with  inference  and 
discussion  that  the  results  are  equivocal  from  the 
standpoint  of  their  empirical  value.  The  psychogenetic 
or  biographical  studies  were  and  are  valuable.  They 
have  been  the  pioneer  path-breakers  that  indicate  the 
extent  of  the  problem  confronting  us  but  now  exact 
definitization  of  facts  demands  quantitative  studies  un- 
der controlled  experimental  conditions  and  an  unbiased 
presentation  of  the  results  obtained. 

Some  such  experimental  investigations  have  lately 
been  made  by  those  interested  in  Comparative  Psy- 
chology. They  have  used  various  of  the  objective 
methods  upon  children  with  rather  favorable  results. 
In  so  far  as  they  have  been  interested  in  animal  rather 
than  human  psychology  their  work  shows  unmistakable 
errors.  Although  making  comparisons  of  the  results 
obtained  upon  children  and  other  animals  they  intro- 
duce great  variants  in  procedure  when  dealing  with 
the  two.     The  verbal  Aufgabe  with  children  takes  the 


CONCLUSIONS  199 

place  of  objective  sense  stimuli  used  with  the  animals 
or  if  objective  stimuli  are  given  they  are  such  as  appeal 
differently  in  the  two  cases.  The  number  of  children, 
with  the  exception  of  Katz'  studies,  is  very  small.  In 
general,  the  reports  show  that  the  experimenters  were 
working  with  inadequate  and  often  erroneous  ideas  of 
what  the  child  as  a  type  means. 

This  attempted  use  of  purely  objective  methods  in 
the  study  of  the  child's  behavior  is  a  decided  advance, 
however,  for  errors  in  technique  can  easily  be  remedied 
and,  although  most  of  the  methods  used  so  far  have 
been  rather  unwieldy  and  cumbersome,  we  can  see  now 
the  theoretical  and  objective  basis  from  the  use  of 
which  the  experimental  psychology  of  the  young  child 
will  rise.  This  new  attitude  towards  the  child  con- 
ceives of  him  as  an  organism  peculiarly  adapted  to 
growth  and  functional  responses  to  the  external  stimuli 
among  which  he  lives.  Our  information  concerning  this 
organism,  its  peculiarities  and  abilities,  is  best  in- 
creased by  studying  the  variations  of  its  behavior  un- 
der controlled  or  definitely  ascertained  conditions  of 
stimulation.  These  variations  may  be  changes  in  be- 
havior of  growth  and  structure  formation  or  they  may 
be  changes  in  function.  The  study  of  the  latter 
changes  in  so  far  as  they  relate  to  or  are  neural  in 
character  is  peculiarly  the  property  of  psychology. 
These  changes  are  not,  however,  to  be  thought  of  as 
existing  independently  of  or  uninfluenced  by  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  organism  considered  as  a  whole. 

The  chief  impetus  towards  the  formulation  of  this 
concept  of  the  psychology  of  the  infant  has  come  from 
the  Pavlov  school,  especially  as  it  has  been  applied  to 
human  beings  by  Bechterew  and  Krasnogorski.  The 
work  of  Bechterew,   followed  by  that  of  Watson  in 


\l 


mo  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

this  country,  is  less  significant  for  the  study  of  the 
young  child  than  is  that  of  Krasnogorski.  Most  of 
Bechterew's  work  has  been  developed  upon  the  punish- 
ment motivation  to  protective  response.  In  children 
this  induces  attitudes  towards  the  situation  which  are 
absolutely  antagonistic  to  the  purpose  we  have  in  mind 
of  studying  the  child's  reactions  under  normal  condi- 
tions. 

Krasnogorski  more  nearly  fulfills  the  demands  our 
concept  of  the  child  makes  upon  us.  His  assertions  of 
the  value  of  the  method  of  conditioned  reflexes  as  a 
means  of  studying  young  children  pointed  to  a  further 
study  of  the  method  itself  as  necessary  and  probably 
valuable.  His  work  is,  however,  distinctly  medical  and 
the  terminology  needed  interpretation  and  assimilation 
into  that  of  our  psychological  studies  while  his  method 
needed  refining  and  standardization. 

A  careful  study  of  the  terminology  shows  that  the 
conditioned  reflex  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  an 
association  developed  between  an  arbitrarily  de- 
termined stimulus  and  some  response  habitually  caused 
by  some  other  stimulus.  This  response  may  be  one 
functioning  in  everyday  life,  or  as  used  by  Bechterew, 
is  itself  sometimes  an  artificially  developed  response. 

Experimentation  with  the  method  verifies  Krasno- 
gorski's  claims  for  it.  It  can  easily  be  adapted  to  vary- 
ing and  multiform  conditions. 

The  conditioned  reflex  can  easily  be  established  in 
normal  children  of  one  year  of  age  and  in  defectives 
mentally  much  less.  The  lower  age  limit  of  its  pos- 
sible development  in  normals  has  not  yet  been  ascer- 
tained. 

The  results  obtained  from  the  use  of  this  method 
upon  a  total  of  67  children  are  as  follows: 


CONCLUSIONS  201 

Unselected  group. 

1.  The  learning  of  a  conditioned  reflex  requires  from 
3  to  9  trials  in  normal  children.  This  is  a  nar- 
rower range  than  that  found  by  Krasnogorski. 

2.  The  number  of  trials  required  decreases  as  age 
increases  up  to  the  age  of  60  months,  above  this  age 
the  results  are  less  regular. 

3.  The  number  of  trials  required  is  also  influenced 
by  sex.  Under  two  years  of  age  the  boys  learn  more 
rapidly  than  girls  of  the  same  age.  Above  two  this 
order  is  reversed.  The  number  of  trials  required  va- 
ries more  among  the  girls  than  with  the  boys. 

4.  With  children  of  the  same  age  those  who  learn 
more  rapidly  are  also  brighter  as  measured  by  the  re- 
sults obtained  through  the  use  of  the  Binet  and  Yerkes 
scales. 

5.  With  children  learning  in  the  same  number  of 
trials  the  older  ones  have  higher  ratings  on  the  Binet 
and  Yerkes  scales. 

6.  In  general  there  is  a  slight  tendency  for  the  chil- 
dren who  are  more  rapid  in  learning  the  association  to 
be  more  rapid  in  performance  of  the  Seguin  Form 
Board,  although  when  we  study  the  order  of  merit  for 
Form  Board  ability  we  find  the  most  rapid  learners 
on  the  Krasnogorski  method  are  medium  in  their  abil- 
ity there. 

7.  Those  who  are  more  rapid  in  learning  are  also 
more  apt  to  succeed  upon  the  Adaptation  Board.  In 
general  the  number  of  trials  completed  upon  the  Adap- 
tation Board  is  in  inverse  order  when  compared  with 
the  number  of  trials  for  learning,  the  distribution  of 
the  boys  being  more  regular. 

8.  The  number  of  trials  needed  for  learning  de- 
creases as  the  grip  ability  increases.     This  holds  in 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

lesser  degree  for  the  grip-height  index  and  most  mark- 
edly in  the  grip-weight  index. 

9.  The  rate  of  learning  increases  as  the  spirometer 
ability  increases.  This  is  also  true  of  the  vital  in- 
dices. 

10.  After  a  twenty-four-hour  interval  the  condi- 
tioned reflex  functions  at  once  in  over  seventy  per 
cent  of  the  unselected  group. 

11.  The  number  of  trials  needed  for  relearning  va- 
ries only  from  2  to  7,  being  less  than  the  learning 
range. 

12.  This  variability  in  retention  appears  independ- 
ent of  the  age  of  the  child. 

13.  There  is  a  moderate  relation  between  learning 
ability  and  retention.  The  most  rapid  learners  retain 
best  and  their  average  score,  which  without  exception 
was  one  of  complete  retention,  is  equaled  by  only  one 
other  group,  the  one  which  learned  most  slowly.  Those 
intermediate  in  learning  ability  are  less  successful  in 
retaining. 

14.  The  range  of  trials  required  for  relearning  is 
less  among  the  girls  than  among  the  boys. 

15.  The  mechanism  of  inhibition  or  unlearning  of 
the  association  was  developed  in  41  of  the  unselected 
group.  The  youngest  nine  reacted  antagonistically  to 
the  situation  which  confronted  them  in  the  attempt  to 
develop  the  unlearning  and  hence  scored  failures  on 
this  process. 

16.  The  number  of  trials  needed  for  developing  the 
inhibition  or  unlearning  ranged  from  3  to  12,  the 
range  being  greater  for  the  boys  than  for  the  girls. 

17.  In  general  the  number  of  trials  needed  for  un- 
learning the  conditioned  reflex  decreases  as  age  in- 
creases. 


CONCLUSIONS  SOS 

18.  There  are  marked  sex  differences,  more  of  the 
boys  developing  the  unlearning  rapidly,  more  of  the 
girls  requiring  a  greater  number  of  trials. 

19.  The  number  of  trials  needed  for  unlearning  tends 
to  decrease  as  the  number  of  trials  needed  for  learning 
increases.  This  relation  is  more  constant  among  the 
boys  than  among  the  girls. 

20.  There  is  a  slight  indication  that  the  number  of 
trials  needed  for  effecting  unlearning  is  greater  the 
fewer  the  number  of  trials  needed  for  memorial  re- 
functioning  or  re-learning  after  a  twenty-four-hour  in- 
terval. (This  would  be  in  accordance  with  Jost's 
law.) 

21.  For  children  of  the  same  age  the  number  of  trials 
needed  for  developing  unlearning  is  in  all  but  one  in- 
stance greater  for  the  girls  than  for  the  boys. 

22.  For  all  the  children  developing  unlearning  in 
the  same  number  of  trials  the  mental  age  by  Binet  in- 
creases as  the  chronological  age  increases  when  sub- 
division is  made  according  to  sex.  The  regularity  of 
distribution  by  the  Yerkes  age  is  slightly  less. 

23.  In  the  children  of  any  one  chronological  age, 
grouped  according  to  the  number  of  trials  they  re- 
quired to  develop  an  inhibition  or  unlearn  the  condi- 
tioned reflex,  the  situation  is  more  complex.  For  boys 
the  mental  age  by  Binet  or  Yerkes  increases,  up  to  a 
certain  point,  as  the  number  of  trials  required  in- 
creases, then  for  those  requiring  more  trials  the  men- 
tal age  is  less.  This  relation  is  different  in  children 
of  different  ages.  For  girls  the  distribution  indicates 
that  the  duller  children  require  more  nearly  the  median 
number  of  trials,  the  brighter  children  developing  an 
inhibition  in  either  a  lesser  or  a  greater  number  of 
trials. 


204  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

24.  There  is  a  slight  indication  that  those  children 
who  are  more  rapid  in  unlearning  can  complete  the 
Seguin  Form  Board  with  better  time  records  than  those 
who  unlearn  slowly. 

25.  The  number  of  turns  of  the  Adaptation  Board 
which  are  successfully  completed  is  greater  among 
those  children  who  unlearn  more  rapidly. 

26.  There  appears  to  be  a  slight  positive  relation 
between  the  increase  in  average  grip  and  the  decrease 
in  number  of  trials  necessary  to  develop  unlearning. 
This  relation  is  less  marked  when  we  use  the  grip  in- 
dices. 

27.  There  is  practically  no  relation  between  the 
vital  indices  and  the  number  of  trials  necessary  to  ef- 
fect inhibition  or  unlearning  of  the  conditioned  re- 
flexes. 

28.  The  relearning  of  or  re-establishment  of  the 
conditioned  reflex  functions  without  much  perceptible 
diff^erence  in  children  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes,  al- 
though there  are  several  individual  variants.  The  sig- 
nificance of  these  can  not  be  established  without  further 
work  at  this  point. 

Defectives. 

29.  The  learning  process  in  defectives  is  such  that 
they  require  anywhere  from  3  to  18  trials  to  develop 
a  conditional  reflex. 

80.  The  number  of  trials  needed  for  this  learning  is 
not  directly  proportional  to  the  mental  ability  of  the 
child  but  is  also  relative  to  his  chronological  age. 

31.  The  range  of  number  of  trials  needed  to  de- 
velop a  reaction  after  24  hours  is  the  same  as  that  in 
the  unselected  group,  2-7.  However,  instead  of  over 
70%  using  only  2  trials  we  have  here  but  4  out  of 
7  or  67%  with  whom  2  trials  were  sufficient. 


CONCLUSIONS  205 

32.  Although  only  two  of  the  defectives  studied  were 
girls  there  is  an  indication  that  with  this  group  as 
well  as  with  the  unselected  group  there  are  important 
sex  differences. 

33.  The  number  of  trials  required  for  inhibition  or 
unlearning  varies  from  8  to  21. 

34.  The  association  or  conditioned  reflex  is  in  every 
instance  relearned  or  redeveloped  in  two  trials. 

35.  The  greatest  deviation  of  these  borderline  defec- 
tives as  a  group  from  the  unselected  group  lies  in  the 
number  of  trials  necessary  for  the  development  of  un- 
learning. Only  three  of  the  defective  group  effect  this 
in  a  number  of  trials  which  lies  within  the  range  of 
normal  performance  and  this  overlapping  is  true  only 
when  the  two  groups  are  treated  as  wholes.  If  we 
place  any  defective  girl  or  boy  in  the  unselected  group 
in  the  place  where  he  would  belong  by  virtue  of  his 
age,  sex  and  mentality  as  measured  by  the  Binet  or 
Yerkes  scale  he  will  be  outside  the  range  of  variations 
of  the  unselected  group  in  the  number  of  trials  he 
needs  to  develop  unlearning.  The  only  case  in  the  un- 
selected group  with  which  any  one  from  the  defective 
group  is  homogeneous  in  behavior  in  unlearning  is  the 
little  son  of  the  feeble-minded  man  and  the  insane  wo- 
man. 

36.  In  the  case  of  children  whom  other  tests  leave 
undiagnosed  or  unprognosed  these  methods  indicate  a 
procedure  which  makes  a  more  fundamental  test  of  the 
mental  processes  and  consequently  they  discriminate 
potential  defectives  and  psychasthenics  in  a  way  that 
is  more  highly  prognostic  than  are  the  results  of  any 
other  test  now  employed. 

37.  The  method  seems  even  more  valuable  because 
its  findings  upon  any  one  child  seem  to  indicate  that 


206  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 

the  conditioned  reflex  processes  are  influenced  in  the 
rate  of  their  functioning  by  sex,  age,  heredity ;  are  cor- 
related with  abiHty  upon  other  tests,  with  measure- 
ments like  grip  and  lung  capacity  and  are  probably 
influenced  by  glandular  disturbances.  As  a  result 
they  give  us  in  a  simple  numerical  form  a  rating  which 
facilitates  our  comprehension  of  the  total  endowment 
Nature  has  given  the  child. 

By  no  means,  however,  do  I  wish  it  to  be  thought 
that  I  favor  the  use  of  the  Krasnogorski  processes  in 
place  of  other  methods  in  clinical  examination.  In- 
stead I  believe  that  the  study  of  the  individual  child 
for  the  purpose  of  prognosis  or  merely  for  a  better 
understanding  of  his  nature  is  not  to  be  accomplished 
by  the  esoteric  usage  of  any  individual  method,  no 
matter  how  high  its  claims.  Just  as  binocular  vision 
gives  us  a  third  dimension  so  every  additional  line  of 
approach  to  a  child's  mental  processes  allows  us  to 
understand  and  evaluate  them  more  fully. 

No  child  should  be  diagnosed  as  normal  or  abnor- 
mal unless  he  has  been  studied  from  every  possible  as- 
pect. This  idea  has  been  emphasized  by  Fernald  (44). 
Every  child  must  be  surveyed  through  the  eyeglasses  of 
anthropometrical  measurements,  heredity,  his  history 
from  the  time  of  conception,  his  educational  history, 
present  and  functioning  educational  acquisitions,  his 
general  knowledge  gained  from  experience  in  his  social 
group  outside  school,  his  social,  moral  and  economic 
reactions  as  well  as  from  the  viewpoint  of  exact  meas- 
urement of  mental  processes.  Of  course  the  pre-school 
child  is  too  young  to  have  much  of  a  history  in  several 
of  these  lines  and  hence  it  is  even  more  important  that 
the  others  be  accurately  evaluated.  I  do  think,  how- 
ever, that  experiments  such  as  the  Krasnogorski  which 


CONCLUSIONS  207 

deal  with  definite  neutral  situations  are  more  funda- 
mental and  as  they  become  more  numerous  will  tend  to 
replace  the  arbitrary  tests  of  acquired  knowledge. 

But  one  thing  needs  to  be  kept  in  mind.  The  cliild 
is  an  individual  and  must  be  treated  and  studied  as 
such  whether  he  as  an  individual  is  the  whole  problem 
or  only  one  of  a  group  forming  the  subject  matter 
of  a  problem.  No  success  may  be  ascribed  to  studies 
which  disregard  this  fact.  The  day  for  the  mere  ab- 
straction of  one  item,  its  cold  manipulation  and  the 
absolute  deduction  of  facts  therefrom  is  past.  We 
must  realize  the  eternal  interplay  of  all  of  the  many 
factors  in  the  child  and  his  environment.  The  more  of 
these  we  can  grasp  the  nearer  shall  we  come  to  the 
explanation  and  understanding  of  any  one  of  them. 
This  does  not  mean  not  submitting  the  child  to  arbi- 
trary laboratory  conditions  for  studying  him.  Give 
him  if  you  will  time  limits  within  which  he  must  do 
so  and  so  or  must  not  do  so  and  so,  but  keep  the  con- 
ditions constant  for  that  problem,  noting  as  many  fac- 
tors in  the  situation  as  you  yourself  are  aware  of.  Only 
by  doing  this  shall  we  come  to  an  understanding  of 
the  whys  and  the  wherefores  which  make  of  the  child  a 
growing  and  functioning  unity. 


-N 


CURVES  ILLUSTRATING  THE  DEVELOPMENT 
OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEXES 

In  all  curves  the  dash  in  the  topmost  line  represents 
the  moment  of  feeding. 

The  second  line  is  the  record  of  the  throat  and  chin 
movements  of  the  child. 

The  bottom  line  is  the  time  recorded  in  seconds. 


Case  31. — Gertrude,  aged  61  months,  who  tests  6^  by  the  Binet  and 
5  0  by  the  Point. 


Teial  1. — Child  lying  quiet 
until  fed. 


} 

1    / , , 

1    1    1    1    1     , 

Teial  2. — Child   not   react- 
ing before  she  was  fed. 


209 


210 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


Tbial  3. — Mouth      opened 
before  feeding. 


Trial  4. — Mouth  again 
opened  before  the  feed- 
ing. 


Case  31,  after  24  hours. 


Trial  1. 


-Reaction 
ing. 


before     feed- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  REFLEXES 


211 


Tbial  2. — Reaction  before  feed- 
ing, child  not  fed  but  un- 
learning begun. 


Tkial  3. — Reaction  to  bandage,  no 
feeding. 


Trial  4. — Reaction  to  bandage,  no 
feeding. 


212  CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


Trial  5. — Marked  and  violent  re- 
action. 


Tkial  6. — Continued  reaction. 


Tkial  7. — Reaction    continued 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  REFLEXES         213 


Trial  8. — Almost  quiet. 


Trial  9. — Slight  swallowing. 


Trial  10. — Violent    mouth    opening    and 
swallowing. 


214 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


Trial  11. — No 


reaction 
period. 


throughout    the 


Trial  12. — Child  quiet  until  fed. 
Unlearning  was  perfected  and 
re-learning  begun. 


Trial  13. — Re-learning  effected. 
Child  opens  her  mouth  before 
time  for  feeding. 


SELECTED    RECORDS    FROM    OTHER    CASES 

ILLUSTRATING  VARIOUS  STAGES  IN  THE  DEVELOP- 
MENT OF  CONDITIONED  REFLEXES 


Case  30,  Margaret,  59  months  old, 
Blnet  6*.  Learning  was  de- 
veloped In  4  trials,  and  func- 
tion was  Immediate  after  24 
hours.  This  is  the  reaction 
upon  the  sixth  trial  for  ef- 
fecting unlearning.  Child  lay 
tense  with  heavy  breathing 
and  opened  mouth.  Two  more 
trials  were  needed  for  un- 
learning. 


Case  39,  Clarence,  73  months  old, 
Blnet  6'.  Learning  required 
6  trials  and  recall  after  24 
hours  was  immediate.  Ac- 
companying curve  .^hows  un- 
learning fully  developed  and 
re-learning  begun  after  only 
4  trials. 


Case  23,  Jackie,  51  months  old, 
Binet  5*.  Curve  shows  learn- 
ing fully  developed  and 
marked  reaction  before  feed- 
ing on  this,  the  third  trial. 
In  this  case  unlearning  re- 
quired  9   trials. 


215 


216 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


Case  24,  Marie,  51  months  old, 
Binet  5-.  Learning  required 
5  trials,  recall  was  immediate 
but  unlearning  took  10  trials. 
Re-learning  was  then  begun. 
This  curve  shows  the  third 
trial  for  re-learning  which 
evidenced  itself  on  the  fourth 
trial.  No  reaction  before 
feeding. 


Case  19,  Russell,  48  months  old, 
Binet  5^.  Learning  complete 
on  this  the  fifth  trial.  Re- 
call after  24  hours  required  3 
trials  and  unlearning  7  but 
re-learning    only    2    trials. 


Case  12,  James,  36  months  old, 
Binet  3^.  After  forming  the 
association  in  7  trials  he  re- 
calls in  2  trials  and  then 
takes  12  trials  to  unlearn. 
The  curves  show  the  ninth 
and  eleventh  trials  in  the  de- 
velopment of  unlearning. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  REFLEXES 


217 


Case  12,  Ray,  34  months 
old,  Blnet  4i.  Learn- 
ing took  6  trials  and 
recall  3  trials  while 
unlearning  took  6 
trials.  The  sixth  trial 
for  unlearning  and  the 
first  feeding  for  re- 
learning  are  shown 
in   this   curve. 


Case  25,  Alice,  51  months 
old,  Binet  4^.  Learn- 
ing took  3  trials  and 
recall  was  Immediate 
after  24  hours.  Un- 
learning took  8  and 
re-learning  2  trials. 
The  curve  shows  the 
fourth  trial  at  unlearn- 
ing, given  after  she 
had  said,  "Give  me 
a  piece  of  candy  this 
time."  "Psychic  stim- 
ulation" is  surely  at 
work. 


Case  G,  Esther,  81  months 
old,  Binet  6\  She  de- 
veloped the  association 
In  13  trials.  Its  ap- 
pearance is  shown  in 
curves  for  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  trials  re- 
produced here.  She 
took  7  trials  for  the 
24  hour  recall,  8  to 
unlearn  and  2  to  re- 
learn. 


218 


CHILD  BEHAVIOR 


Case  P,  Crahil,  93  months 
old,  Blnet  7".  He 
learned  in  5  trials  and 
recalled  in  2  but  took 
14  to  unlearn.  Curves 
12  and  13  are  pre- 
sented here  and  show 
the  disappearance  of 
the  reaction.  He  re- 
learned    in    2    trials. 


Henry,  75  months  old, 
Binet  6^.  This  is  the 
boy  who  could  not  get 
along  in  school  but 
who  by  other  tests  is 
apparently  normal. 
The  curves  show  the 
nineteenth  and  twenty- 
first  trials  given  in  an 
attempt  to  have  him 
unlearn  the  reaction 
learned  in  7  trials. 
He  reacts  in  the  nine- 
teenth but  has  by  the 
twenty-first  been  quiet 
twice  successively  and 
re-learning   is    begun. 


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INDEX 


Activity,  as  reflex,  66 ;  potential- 
ity for,  70. 

Adaptation,   71,  102. 

Adaptation  board.  111,  142,  171- 
173,   179,   204. 

Affective  values,   194. 

Ahil,    119-120. 

"Analysers,"   80-82,  89. 

Anencephalic  child,  92. 

Anthropometric        measurements, 

111,  142-143,    174-180. 
Apparatus,  27,  75-76,  102 ;  child's 

adjustment   to,    107. 

Artificial  stimulus,  64,  77 ;  see 
also  conditioned  stimulus. 

Association,  67,  90,  92 ;  condi- 
tioned, 140 ;  formation  of,  45, 
59,  147 ;  verbal,  92 ;  see  also 
learning. 

Attitude  of  child,  96,  100,  109, 
186. 

Attitude  towards  child.  Christian, 
13,  196 ;  genetic,  19,  197 ; 
Greek,  13 ;  pedagogical,  16,  17, 
46,  196;  psychological,  49,  51, 
198-199  ;  religious,  17,  18,  196. 

Aufgabe,  195  ;  use  of,  58,  60,  195  ; 
verbal,  51,  58,  109,  147. 

Aussage    tests,    44. 

Aussagen,  128,  129,  187-188, 
194. 

Autobiographies,  18,  39. 

Baldwin,  28,  37,  72. 
Bechterew,   65-66,    69,   199-200. 
Behavior,   aim   of,   55 ;   study   of, 

33,  52,  53ff. 
Bickel,    68,    72. 
Binet,   41,   43,   44,   110,   128,   141, 

161-168,     169,    178,    179,     201, 

203,   205. 
Biographies    of   children,    18,    21, 

22,  25,  28,  30,  33,  39. 
Bogen,    68-69,    72. 
Borderline  cases,  112,  180-183. 

Child  an  organism,  70-71,  199. 
Child  behavior  defined,   7. 
Child  behavior  problems,  8. 
Children,  entering  school,  19,  20, 
28,     47 ;    "not    feeble-minded," 

112,  164,  183-185  ;  under  1  year 
old,  191 ;  unselected  group,  48. 
95,    103fC,    137ff. 


237 


Child's  Congress,  31. 

Qlrtld  study,  56,  196 ;  America, 
28,  29,  30  ;  anthropological,  23, 
30 ;  autobiographies,  18,  39 ; 
Belgium,  24 ;  biographical,  18, 
21,  22,  25,  28,  30,  33,  39  ;  clas- 
sification, 32-33  ;  color  discrim- 
ination, 22,  23,  25,  27,  36,  37, 
§17,  198 ;  Denmark,  30 ;  diffi- 
culties with  younger  children, 
48-49  ;  linglaud,  26-27  ;  factors 
influencing,  42 ;  first  record, 
15 ;  founder,  16 ;  France,  24- 
25,  30;  genetic,  36,  197;  Ger- 
many, 22-24,  30;  history  of, 
23,  25  ;  language,  19,  21,  23, 
25,  28,  32,  36-37,  45-47,  197  ; 
physio  -  psychological,  19-21, 
32  ;  Poland,  30  ;  Portugal,  31  ; 
results  of,  32ff ;  Russia,  26 ; 
social  customs,  23 ;  specializa- 
tion in,  30 ;  theory  of,  70-71, 
199  ;  use  of  term,   6. 

Chronological  age,  140,  146-147, 
148-ir)3,  165-166,  167,  201, 
202,  203. 

Classification  of  child  study,  32- 
33. 

Clinical  procedure,  189 ;  value, 
86,  93,   189,   205-206. 

Color  discrimination,  22,  23,  25, 
27,   36,  37.   87,  198. 

Comenius,  14. 

Conditioned     reflexes,     64-67,     73- 

93,  94,  200£f;  "analysers,"  80- 
82,  89 ;  apparatus,  75-76,  94, 
95,  102  ;  applicability,  194-195  ; 
characteristics  of,  64 ;  condi- 
tioned centers,  82  ;  conditioned 
inhibitions,  83,  91,  100  ;  condi- 
tioned stimulu.s,  75,  97  ;  devel- 
opment of,  64,  79ff,  92,  115- 
127,  128  ;  developmental  stages, 
82,  126-127,  130ff,  209-218  ;  dis- 
crimination of  stimuli,  124,  126- 
127,  131,  133,  134;  formation 
of,  64,  68-69,  75,  79,  82ff,  95ff, 
148 ;    in   defectives,    79,    81,   82, 

94,  103,  112,  113-127,  204-205, 
217-218  ;  learning  of,  68,  76.  85, 
90,  140.  147-152,  153,  154,  156- 
159,  164-168,  169,  172,  178, 
192,  201-202,  204,  209-210, 
215,     216;     loading     and     dis- 


238 


INDEX 


charge,"  83-85 ;  mechanisms, 
79,  83,  85-86,  91,  127;  me- 
morial conditioning,  84,  90, 
134  ;  memorial  effect  of  stimu- 
lus, 78,  89  ;  memorial  function- 
ing of,  76ff,  99,  102,  116-118, 
120,  122,  123,  135,  140-141, 
152-154,  202 ;  method,  63,  65, 
73,  76,  86-87,  97  ;  pathological 
differentiation,  79-84 ;  see  also 
clinical  value ;  principle  of, 
89-92,  193-194 ;  re-agents,  76, 
94,  95,  104,  112 ;  relearning  of, 

101,  102,  141,  160-161,  202- 
203,  205,  214-217 ;  renewal, 
77ff ;  see  also  relearning ;  re- 
sults obtained  by  Krasnogorski, 
76-83,  89,  147,  148,  156,  191, 
199-200  ;  retention  of,  102,  128, 
134,  152-154,  202,  210-211; 
specificity  of,  77,  80,  82,  129, 
130,  131,  132,  133;  stimulus, 
natural,  64,  114 ;  stimulus, 
used,  74,  76,  114 ;  time  inter- 
val, 87-88,  97-98,  99;  uncondi- 
tioned stimulus,  64,  75,  114 ; 
unlearning,    77ff,    85,    90,    100, 

102,  133,  141,  154-159.  166- 
167,  172,  178,  202,  203-204. 
205,  211-214,  215,  216,  217, 
218. 

Conditioned  stimulus,  64,  75,  97  ; 

modification  of,   114. 
Correlation  coefficients,   14.3-146. 
Correlative  study,   6,   7,   190. 
Curves,  evaluation,   189-190,   209- 

218. 

Defectives,  79,  81,  82,  85,  94,  96, 
112,  113-127,  180-195.  204-205, 
217,  218 ;  borderline,  112 ; 
learning  of,  85,  180-182,  204; 
study  of,  96,  103,  113-127,  180- 
183,  204-205 ;  unlearning,  85, 
182-183,   205. 

Delayed  reactions,  58-59. 

Diaries,  child  study,  33. 

Digestive  glands,  62-65. 

Discussion,  185ff. 

Drawings  of  children,  47-48. 

Dynamometer  findings ;  see  psy- 
chomotor measurements. 

Emotional   attitude,    186. 
Experimental  studies,  51,  56-60. 
Experiments,     place    of,    34,    35, 
36,   37-38,    42,  49-51. 

Fatigue,  89,  98,  186. 
Forgetting,    102 ;    see   also   reten- 
tion. 

Games,  47. 

Garbini,   25. 

George,   125-127. 

Goddard,  110,  111,  146,  171. 


Grip ;    see   psychomotor    measure- 
ments. 
Growth   as   a   factor,   70-71,    199. 

Habit,  54-55,  70,  90,  92. 

Hall,  28,  29,  40,  46. 

Hamilton,  56,  60. 

Handling  children,  102-108,  185- 
186. 

Healy    boards,    110,    173. 

Height ;  see  anthropometric  meas- 
urements. 

Hunter,  58-60. 

Idiots,    79.    81,    82,   94,    103,    113- 

127. 
Individual,  studies  of,  18,  21,  22, 

25,   28,   30,    33,  39. 
Instinct,   54-55,  70. 
Intelligence  tests,  30,  41,  86. 
Interest,    185. 
Interrelation    of    studies,    33. 

Jock,  123-125. 
John,  122-123. 
Jorsi,   120-122. 

Katz,  50,  51,  60. 

Krasnogorski,     72,     73-86,    96-97, 

147,    148,    156,     191,    199-200  ; 

criticism  of,  86-93. 

Language,  19,  21,  23,  25,  28,  32, 
36-37,  45-47,  197  ;  quantitative 
studies  of,    37. 

L'Ann6e   Psychologique,  24. 

Learning,  51,  68,  71,  76,  85,  90, 
140,  147-152,  153,  154,  150- 
159,  164-168,  169,  172,  178, 
192,  201-202,  204,  209-210,  21.j, 
216,   217. 

Learning    in    defectives,    113-127. 

Learning  process,  47,  68,  195. 

Leitha,   115-118. 

"Loading    and   discharge,"    83-85. 

Lombroso,  Taola,  25, 

Lung  capacity ;  see  psychomotor 
measurements. 

Machado,  31. 

Maze,  58. 

Memory,  47,  67,  102,  141 ;  stud- 
ies of,  43-45,  51 ;  see  also  con- 
ditioned reflexes. 

Methods,  Aussagc,  44 ;  autobiog- 
raphy, 38-39 ;  behavior,  see  ex- 
perimental ;  dynamogenic,  37, 
38 ;  experimental,  34,  35.  36, 
37-38,  42,  49-52,  197  ;  exten- 
sive, 19 ;  first,  33 ;  multiple 
choice,  57  ;  objective,  91,  198  ; 
physiological,  23,  25,  42-43, 
196  ;  psycho-analysis,  39  ;  quad- 
ruple choice,  56  ;  quantitative, 
40-41 ;  questionnaire,  39-40 ; 
retrospection,   45. 

Meumann,  36,  47. 


INDEX 


239 


Motive  In   child  study,  evolution, 
49 ;  pedagogy,  4S  ;  see  also  at- 
titude. 
Motor  development,   43,   198, 
Motor  reflex,  66,  81  ;  response,  37, 
73. 

Neuro-psychopaths,  79-80,  81,  82, 

83,  85,  13G. 
Number  of  cases,  188. 

Objective   methods,    91,    198. 
Organism,    .^,    54,    91  ;    child    an, 
70-71,  199. 

Partil,   103,   127-134,   135,   136. 

Pasha,    118. 

Pavlov,  60,   62-65,  69,  199. 

Pedagogical  Seminary,  29. 

Perez,  21,  28,  34. 

Pestalozzi,    15,    16,    34. 

Play,  99,  103,  195. 

Pohlmann,    46-47. 

Point  Scale,  110,  128,  142,  161- 
168,  169,  179,  201,  203,  205. 

Pre-school  age,  6,  32,  48,  206. 

Preycr,  22,  28,  34,   43,  192. 

"Psychic  excitation,"   64. 

Psychology,  and  biology,  53 ; 
child,  5,  33,  50;  defined  as  be- 
havior, 54ff ;  divisions  of,  5  ; 
educational,  5-6 ;  of  adoles- 
cence, 6  ;  of  child,  defined,  6. 

Psychomotor  findings,  174-180, 
201-204. 

Psychomotor  measurements,  112, 
143. 

Punishment    motivation,    67. 

Quantitative  studies,    40. 

Reassociation,    102 ;    see   also    re- 
learning. 
Reflex  as  a  unit,  54-55. 
Reflex,  cerebral,   60-62,   89. 
Reflex,   motor,   66,   81. 
Reflexes :      see      conditioned      re- 

Kelearning,  101,  102,  141,  160- 
161,  202-203,  205,  214-216,  217. 


Results,  genetic,  42, 

Retention.  102,  128,  140-141,  152- 
154,  202.  210-211  ;  in  defec- 
tives.   113-127. 

Reward  motivation,  00,  67. 

Rousseau,  14-15. 

Schleiermacher,   17,    190. 
School   entrance    studios,    20. 
Seguin  form  board.  111,  142,  168- 

171,   179,  201,  204. 
Setchenov,   60-62. 
Sex  diflferences,   47,   151-152,  154- 

159,     162,     177,    188-189,     203- 

204,  205. 
Shinn.  28,   34,  43,   192. 
SlkorskH,    26. 
Stern,  23,   34-36,  44,  192. 
Stimulus,  57,  60,  64,  70,  71,  76fE, 

79,  89,  96  ;  appeal  of,  58,  194  ; 

modification   of,   114. 
Successful  work,  185. 
Sully,   26. 
Synthetic  study,  190,  206. 

Tests  of  intelligence,   30,   41,  86. 
Tests,    supplementary,    108,    110- 

112. 
Tiedemann,   16,  42. 
Time    interval,    87-88,    97-98,    99. 

Unlearning,  77ff.  85,  90,  100,  102, 
133,  141,  154-159.  166-167,  172, 
178,  202,  203-204,  205,  211- 
214,   215,    216.   217.   218. 

Unsolected  group,  48,  95,  103ff, 
137,    201-204. 

Vital  index,  178-lSO ;  see  psy- 
chomotor  measurements. 

Warner,  26-27,   72. 
Watson,   54-56,   06-68,    199. 
Weight ;  see  anthropometric  meas- 
urements. 

Yerkes,  56,  57-58,  60,  101-168, 
201. 


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